Does Cryoneurolysis Result in Persistent Motor Deficits? A
Reg Anesth Pain Med: first published as 10.1136/rapm-2019-101141 on 29 January 2020. Downloaded from Original research Does cryoneurolysis result in persistent motor deficits? A controlled study using a rat peroneal nerve injury model Sameer B Shah,1 Shannon Bremner,1 Mary Esparza,1 Shanelle Dorn,1 Elisabeth Orozco,1 Cameron Haghshenas,1 Brian M Ilfeld ,2 Rodney A Gabriel ,2 Samuel Ward1 1Orthopedic Surgery, University ABSTRact Cryoneurolysis is a non- opioid analgesic modality of California, San Diego, La Background Cryoneurolysis of peripheral nerves uses used to treat both acute and chronic pain involving Jolla, California, USA 2 the application of extremely low temperatures to Anesthesiology, University of localised intense cold to induce a prolonged block over California, San Diego, La Jolla, multiple weeks that has the promise of providing potent a peripheral nerve to induce Wallerian degenera- California, USA analgesia outlasting the duration of postoperative pain tion and consequent abrogation of nerve conduc- following surgery, as well as treat other acute and tion.2 Axons regenerate along the undisturbed Correspondence to chronic pain states. However, it remains unclear whether epineurium, perineurium, and endoneurium from Dr Brian M Ilfeld, persistent functional motor deficits remain following the site of ablation towards their distal targets at Anesthesiology, University of about 1–2 mm/day,3 resulting in a nerve block California, San Diego, La Jolla, cryoneurolysis of mixed sensorimotor peripheral nerves, CA 92093, USA; greatly limiting clinical application of this modality. To with a variable duration, but typically measured in bilfeld@ ucsd. edu help inform future research, we used a rat peroneal multiple weeks.4 While cryoanalgesia has been used nerve injury model to evaluate if cryoneurolysis results in for decades to treat primarily chronic pain,4–8 the Received 11 November 2019 persistent deficits in motor function.
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