Method and system for improving the location accuracy of radio frequency ablation procedures with fiducial marking

摘要

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method for improving the positional accuracy of a radiofrequency ablation procedure performed on a patient is contemplated. The method comprises the steps of identifying a target nerve to be ablated suspected of causing pain; delivering a drug to the nerve to temporarily block nerve signaling through the target nerve; The steps to confirm that the target nerve is the cause of the pain when a simple nerve block reduces the level of pain felt by the patient, and that the temporary nerve block reduced the level of pain felt by the patient. Locating the fiducial marker adjacent to the nerve if confirmed, locating the fiducial marker, and delivering high frequency energy via the probe to an area of tissue adjacent the fiducial marker . The area of tissue corresponds to the nerve and high frequency energy is applied at a level sufficient to ablate the nerve. [Selection diagram] Fig. 1