Introduction:Recent recommendations for the treatment of chronic pain patients during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic suggest using telemedicine instead of in-person consultations. Knowing whether patients with chronic pain are receptive to the use of telemedicine during a pandemic might improve tailored care.

Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text.Assessing patient-reported outcomes including pain intensity, pain-related interference, and distress according to the ICD-11 extension codes results in a different incidence of chronic postsurgical pain than reported previously.

Structured Abstract Objective The present study aimed 1) to analyze the relative paraspinal autochthonous intramuscular fat volume before and after radiofrequency neurotomy (RFN), and 2) to compare it to the contralateral non-treated side. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, University of Bern. Subjects Twenty patients (59.60 ± 8.49 years; 55% female) with chronic low back pain, treated with RFN (L2/3—L5/S1) due to symptomatic facet joint syndrome (FCS) between 2008—2017 were included. Methods All patients received a MRI of the lumbar spine before and at a minimum of 6 months after RFN. The absolute (cm3) and relative (%) paraspinal muscle and fat volume was analyzed 3-dimensionally on standard T2 - MRI sequences using a newly developed software (iSix, Osiris plugin). Both sides were examined and allocated as treated or non-treated side Results A total of 31 treated and 9 non-treated sides (Level L2/3 - L5/S1) were examined. There were no differences in the relative paraspinal intramuscular fat volume before and at a median of 1.4 [0.9 – 2.6] years after RFN (p = 0.726). We found no differences in the relative fat volume between the treated and non-treated side before (p = 0.481) and after (p = 0.578) RFN. Conclusions Our study shows that there are no differences in the paraspinal muscle/fat distribution after RFN. RFN of the medial branches for FCS does not seem to cause fatty degeneration of the lumbar paraspinal muscles as a sign of iatrogenic muscle denervation.