Clinical evaluation of the efficacy of radiofrequency combined with ozone in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation using infrared thermography

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of radiofrequency combined with ozone in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation using infrared thermography, and discuss the application value. Methods A total of 160 patients with lumbar disc herniation were randomly divided into observation group (80 cases) and control group (80 cases). The observation group was treated with continuous radiofrequency combined with ozone injection, and the control group was treated with pulse radiofrequency combined with ozone injection. Pain visual analogue (VAS) score, Oswestry dysfunction index (ODI) score, and Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score of the patients were compared before and 1 and 3 months after the treatment. The mean temperature and temperature difference of the lower body were compared by infrared thermography before and 3 months after the treatments. The overall clinical efficacy was evaluated 3 months after the treatments using the modified Macnab criteria. Results The comparison within groups showed that the VAS, ODI and JOA scores were significant changed after 1 and 3 months of the treatment (all P 0.05), and in the temperature difference value was statistically significant between the two groups (P<0.05). The overall clinical efficacy of the observation group was better than that of the control group after 3 months of the treatment (P<0.05). Conclusions Radiofrequency combined with ozone injection is satisfactory for the treatment of lumbar disc herniation, and the continuous radiofrequency is superior to pulse radiofrequency. The clinical efficacy of radio-frequency combined with ozone injection can be effectively evaluated by Infrared thermography. Key words: Infrared thermography; Lumbar disc herniatio; Radio frequency technique; Ozone injection; Clinical research