the Effectiveness of 3rd Occipital Radiofrequency Versus Systemic Steroid in Headache Management in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Assiut University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Headache; Rheumatoid Arthritis

Treatments: Drug: Radiofrequency; Drug: Steroids

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03852355

IRB17300357

Details and patient eligibility

About

Rheumatoid arthritis is a common type of autoimmune arthritis that is characterized by inflammation of the synovial membranes. Even though any joint can be affected by the disease, cervical spine is often affected, and cervical pain is reported by 40-88% of RA patients, Cervical spine involvement is a feature of long-lasting disease, where atlantoaxial impaction with odontoid process vertical subluxation through the foramen magnum being one of the greatest and dangerous complications

Full description

To our knowledge the effectiveness of 3rd occipital nerve blocks in managing chronic upper neck pain, headache in RA patients is not measured yet, so we aimed at assessing the the effectiveness of 3rd occipital nerve blocks in headache management in RA patients who used other medical agents and to compare the results with those of the patients who used only 3rd occipital nerve pulsed radiofrequancy on clinical and radiographic bases.

Enrollment: 60 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 60 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• patients suffering from upper neck pain and/or headache due to bilateral 3rd occipital nerve involvement evidenced by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Exclusion criteria

• disc herniation with radicular pain,
• symptomatic spinal stenosis,
• surgical interventions of the cervical spine within the last 3 months,
• uncontrolled major depression or psychiatric disorders,
• heavy opioid usage

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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60 participants in 2 patient groups

Radiofrequency

Active Comparator group

Description:

bilateral 3rd occipital nerve RF under fluoroscopic guidance

Treatment:

Drug: Radiofrequency

Systemic steroid

Active Comparator group

Description:

received systemic steroids oral prednisolone tablet, 10 mg/day.

Treatment:

Drug: Steroids