PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Peripheral nerve pain is common among patients with typical 
management including the use of pain medications, neuropathic agents, steroid 
injections, and nerve blocks. Additionally, the use of pulsed radiofrequency 
(PRF) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) can be used in the management of chronic 
peripheral nerve pain. Previous studies investigating the effectiveness of RFA 
and PRF, typically case reports, have demonstrated that peripheral nerve RFA and 
PRF have the potential to provide relief of chronic pain for long duration. Our 
study aimed at testing efficacy of RFA/PRF for treating peripheral neuralgia. 
This was a retrospective review. We identified 16 patients who received 17 
RFAs/PRFs. Outcomes of interest collected included pain scores before and after 
procedures, percent improvement in pain after each procedure, and duration of 
improvement until the time of data collection. In addition, demographic data 
including age, sex, and nerves involved were collected.
RECENT FINDINGS: Eleven patients (12 RFAs/PRFs) (80%) reported improvement after 
their procedure. Pain scores improved significantly from 6.3 ± 2.3 before each 
procedure to 3.6 ± 2.7 after each procedure (p = 0.003). Eleven patients (12 
RFAs/PRFs) reported an average improvement of 60.8% ± 35% after their procedure 
with an average duration of improvement of 128.8 ± 106.8 days. RFA and PRF can 
be used to treat chronic peripheral pain after conservative methods fail to do 
so. Large clinical trials are needed to confirm our finding.