Low Thermal Radio Frequency

[Faith]

Does anyone know anything about Low Thermal RF? My pain doc said he recommends this next (I'm not doing anything else till I see Dr. Hibner in August). I asked him if it was like Pulsed Radio Frequency, but he said it's different. It's done around 50 degrees F and kind of "stuns" the nerve. I can't find any research on it. He said he feels it has better results than PFR. I personally don't think either have very good results.

[Karyn]

Hi Faith,
I've never heard of this treatment before but it sounds kinda scary: stuns the nerve? Did your doc happen to explain how your bowels and bladder would perform while the nerve was in this stunned state? Any idea how long it lasts?
I don't think it's such a bad idea to wait for Hibner before you do anything else ...
Warm regards,
Karyn

[JeanieC]

Faith,

I asked my pain doctor about pulsed RF, and he told me that this is done at a lower temperature than regular RF. He stated that the pulsed is done at a temperature in the 40s whereas the regular is done at a temp in the 80s and burns the nerve. It sounds like the low thermal, if done in the 50s, must just be a slight difference in temperature from the pulsed kind.

I have only read one report on the forum in which the pulsed was a success, and it was done in London. Robyn reported unsuccessful pulsed RF and someone else reported it increased her pain, I think that may have been the higher temperature kind.

Anyway, I would really like to know if there are any US doctors who do this on the pudendal nerve. My pain doctor says this is now a common treatment for the sciatic, but he does not seem to know about the PN.

[Faith]

Hi Jeanie,

Nice to hear from you. I have thought of you recently and were wondering how you are doing. I hope you are feeling better.

[A's Mommy]

Jeanie,

I think about you frequently. How are you feeling? Any improvement at all?

God bless,

AM

[JeanieC]

Hi Faith and AM,

Thanks for thinking about me. I do need to update my history but have not really wanted to as there is not much new to say. I really don't have any improvement that I could put a number on, like 20%. Today I feel much better than yesterday, so it is still up and down, unfortunately more days are down. Now it's 7 and a half months since surgery, so I have not totally given up on improvement yet. There are quite a few people on the forums who have seen improvement in the second and even later years, so there is still HOPE.

As far as publication on pulsed RF, there is a thread which includes an abstract about PRF on tipna, begun on December 14th last year, in Medical Therapies. The abstract is from PubMed and is a case history of a woman who had it done successfully at New York Univ Hospital. It includes name of the anesthesiologist and an email. The whole abstract was posted by Katherine/Scaredgal. The woman in the case had PRF done at 42 degrees Celsius and was getting long term improvement but not total relief.

Celeste has also reminded me that there is another therapy called cold laser, which has been helpful for some.

[ajirish1]

There is a post on one of the facebook pudendal pages..

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6 ... 388&v=wall

The girl had Pulsed Radio Frequency procedure at Stanford Pain Clinic in California and it has helped her significantly.

http://paincenter.stanford.edu/

You can read about the science of the procedure in this article

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19461829

Its a fairly new treatment option and maybe the guys at stanford have tweaked its effectiveness, I dont think its a cure but can probably take the pain level down if it works.

I guess you need a physicans referral and at least one diagnostic nerve blocks to qualify.

They may accept nerve block results from past injections

[JeanieC]

Thanks for posting this information, AJ. I'm glad to know where it is available and has apparently been successful. I see you are planning to have this done at Stanford this summer. I do hope it will be successful and long lasting. Keep us posted.

Jeanie

[shawnmellis]

Has anybody had success with this Pulsed Low Frequency Radiofrequency Ablation to the pudendal nerves? If so, please tell us, as this seems as if it may offer a new alternative to surgery.

Shawn

[Faith]

Shawn,

I have heard of maybe a person or two being helped with pulsed RF over the last year. If you search the forum you will probably find the thread. There has also been some people on here who got worse from it. Unfortunately they aren't on here anymore to my knowledge.