Comprehensive Study Shows Full Range of Treatment Settings and Their Effects on Radiofrequency Heat Lesion Size
American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM)Introduction: We evaluated radiofrequency (RF) heat lesion size for all cannula tip sizes, set temperatures, and lesion times typically used in interventional pain management. Collected data informs selection of cannulae and RF generator settings for RF treatments. Methods: Over 400 lesions were created in ex vivo animal tissue using tip diameters 23, 22, 20, 18, 16 gauge; tip lengths 5, 10, 15mm; set temperatures 60, 70, 80, 90°C; lesion times 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 5, 10 minutes. Average lesion size was assessed using computer-aided photographic temperature mapping of 5-20 lesions per configuration, and modeled using finite-element analysis. Results: Increasing cannula diameter from 22g to 16g increased average lateral lesion width by 65-69% (3-4mm) at 80°C and 2 minutes. Increasing set temperature from 60°C to 90°C increased lesion width 100-150% at 2 minutes; for example, width increased from 4.2mm to 10.4mm for the average 16g/10mm tip cannula. While lesions grew most rapidly over the firs