Ablation

Ablation in pain medicine refers to the deliberate destruction of tissue — usually nerve tissue — to interrupt the transmission of pain signals.

The most common form is radiofrequency ablation (RFA), in which continuous radiofrequency energy produces heat that burns the targeted nerve. Other forms include chemical neurolysis (using alcohol or phenol) and cryoablation (using extreme cold).
Ablation can provide significant pain relief for conditions such as facet joint pain, sacroiliac joint pain and some neuropathic pain syndromes. However, because it destroys nerve tissue, ablation carries the risk of numbness, altered sensation or functional loss and repeated procedures may be less effective over time.
Ablation is often contrasted with pulsed radiofrequency (PRF), which modulates nerve function without tissue destruction. While RFA can be highly effective for selected patients, PRF is increasingly favored when preserving nerve structure and minimizing long-term side effects are important. Together, these approaches represent two ends of the interventional pain spectrum: destructive versus modulatory.