Clinical experience in the treatment of piriformis syndrome using pulsed radiofrequency: A case report

Moon, Hyun Seog; Cha, Young Deog; Song, Jang Ho; Lee, Mi Hyeon; Ahn, Sung Min; Song, Bang Hoon; Yang, Ki Hwan; Hwang, Sung Il

Case Report

Spinal Pain

Anesthesia and Pain Medicine 2011;6(1):21-23.
Published online January 31, 2011.

Clinical experience in the treatment of piriformis syndrome using pulsed radiofrequency: A case report

Hyun Seog Moon, Young Deog Cha, Jang Ho Song, Mi Hyeon Lee, Sung Min Ahn, Bang Hoon Song, Ki Hwan Yang, Sung Il Hwang

¹Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Inha University Hospital, Incheon, Korea. ydchaan@inha.com
²MHS Department of Pain Medicine, Gwangju, Korea.

Abstract

Piriformis syndrome consists of pain, tingling sensation, and paresthesia in areas innervated by sciatic nerve and is one of the main causes of low back pain. A 43-year-old male made a visit for continuous left buttock pain and tingling sensation in lower limbs for three years. Medication, epidural block and sacroiliac joint block were performed, but without effect. Sciatic nerve block with local anesthetics and steroid, however, showed some improvement for a short period of time. The patient's symptoms, physical examination, and the fact that sciatic nerve block showed improvement for a while led to the suspicion of piriformis syndrome. Thus, pulsed radiofrequency was performed on sciatic nerve twice. Visual analog scale (VAS) was 8-9 on first visit, which decreased to 1 after treatment and lasted for more than 18 months.

Key Words: Catheter ablation, Piriformis muscle syndrome, Sciatic nerve