{"id":2909,"date":"2021-12-08T20:31:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-09T00:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fusfoundation.org\/?post_type=sw_disease_condition&p=2909"},"modified":"2026-05-13T17:45:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T21:45:48","slug":"back-pain","status":"publish","type":"sw_disease_condition","link":"https:\/\/www.fusfoundation.org\/diseases-and-conditions\/back-pain\/","title":{"rendered":"Back Pain\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With the FDA approval of the FUS Mobile<\/strong><\/a> system, patients can now treat this condition inside and outside of the US. Patients can also seek commercial treatment at participating in international sites. There are also clinical trials that may be of interest to patients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Focused Ultrasound Therapy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Focused ultrasound is a noninvasive, therapeutic technology with the potential to improve the quality of life and decrease the cost of care for patients with back pain, as a common cause is arthritis of the facet joints. This novel technology focuses beams of ultrasound energy precisely and accurately on targets deep in the body with minimal damage to surrounding normal tissue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How it Works<\/strong>
Where the beams converge, the ultrasound produces precise ablation (thermal destruction of tissue) enabling the nerves that carry painful signals from back arthritis to be treated without surgery. This work started in the low back, but there is some evidence that it may also be helpful in the upper areas of the spine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advantages<\/strong>
The primary treatment options for chronic low back pain caused by facet arthritis currently include medication, steroid injections, radiofrequency ablation of sensory nerves and invasive surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For certain patients, focused ultrasound could provide a noninvasive alternative to surgery with less risk of complications \u2013 such as surgical wound healing or infection \u2013 at a lower cost. It can reach the desired target without damaging surrounding tissue and is repeatable, if necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clinical Trials<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A clinical trial<\/strong><\/a> in Washington, DC is treating complex patients including those with low back pain with focused ultrasound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A second clinical trial<\/strong><\/a> in Washington, DC is using low intensity focused ultrasound to treat patients with chronic low back pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A clinical trial in the US<\/a><\/strong> is treating patients for low back pain secondary to facet joint arthritis has completed enrollment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A clinical trial in Germany<\/a><\/strong> is using MR guided focused ultrasound to treat patients with facet arthritis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A clinical trial in Taiwan<\/strong><\/a> is looking at treating facet arthritis causing low back pain with focused ultrasound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\u202fclinical trial in Israel<\/a><\/strong>\u202f\u202fevaluating the safety and efficacy of a focused ultrasound device to treat back pain secondary to facet joint arthritis has completed enrollment.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Foundation updates these pages regularly, but with the increasing number of clinical trials, we want to be sure that our audience has the latest information available. Therefore, we also added the website search information for the above trials. If you click here<\/a><\/strong>, it will take you to the latest information available from https:\/\/www.clinicaltrials.gov\/<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See a list of laboratory research sites ><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find a Treatment Site<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Search for a treatment center or clinical trial near you.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Regulatory Approval and Reimbursement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Insightec<\/a> <\/strong>magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound system has been approved in Europe and Russia for the treatment of facetogenic back pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FUSMobile<\/strong><\/a> system has been approved in US, Europe, and Canada for the treatment of facetogenic back pain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notable Papers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Zou J, Hao S, Li G.\u00a0Non-invasive\u00a0brain stimulation for chronic low back pain: current techniques and future perspectives<\/strong><\/a>. Front Hum\u00a0Neurosci. 2026 Feb\u00a011;20:1760097.\u00a0doi: 10.3389\/fnhum.2026.1760097.\u00a0eCollection\u00a02026. PMID: 41756037\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peckham ME, Lehman VT, Doshi A, Hutchins TA, Brown PA, Bowkley C, Hirsch JA, Jordan JE, Shah LM. Facet Joint Imaging and Image-Guided Interventions from the American College of Radiology Commission on Neuroradiology<\/a><\/strong>. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2026 Jan 22. doi: 10.3174\/ajnr.A8981. PMID: 41571405 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rieke V, Payne A, Merrill R, Hadley JR, Od\u00e9en H, Kline M, Zabriskie MS, Shah LM. Design and evaluation of a magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound system for the treatment of cervical spine pain<\/strong><\/a>. Med Phys. 2026 Jan;53(1):e70221. doi: 10.1002\/mp.70221. PMID: 41423426 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iversen MM, Kline M, Smith EA, Payne A, Shah LM, Rieke V. <\/strong>Ablation of cervical facet joints is safe and feasible with two magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound transducers as demonstrated by thermal simulations<\/strong><\/a>. <\/strong>Int J Hyperthermia. 2025 Dec;42(1):2500487. doi: 10.1080\/02656736.2025.2500487. PMID:\u202f40357622 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hoda W, Pandey K. The emerging role of fluoroscopy-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound ablation in lumbar facet joint pain management<\/strong><\/a>. Korean J Anesthesiol. 2024 Dec 26. doi: 10.4097\/kja.24724. PMID: 39722208 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tiegs-Heiden CA. MR-guided Focused Ultrasound for Musculoskeletal Applications<\/strong><\/a>. Magn Reson Imaging Clin N Am. 2024 Nov;32(4):641-650. doi: 10.1016\/j.mric.2024.02.006. Epub 2024 Mar 23. PMID: 39322353 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\\Mahapatra S, Francois H, Weber-Levine C, Jiang K, Bhimreddy M, Boateng A, Davidar AD, Routkevitch D, Chhatre A, Manbachi A, Theodore N. Focused ultrasound for the treatment of facet joint pain: a systematic review. Neurosurg Focus<\/strong><\/a>. 2024 Sep 1;57(3):E9. doi: 10.3171\/2024.6.FOCUS24249. PMID: 39217639 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karri J, Cohen SP. High-intensity focused ultrasound as the savior for lumbar facet joint neurotomy: fact, fad, or fiction?<\/strong><\/a> Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2024 May 22:rapm-2024-105515. doi: 10.1136\/rapm-2024-105515. PMID: 38724269 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gofeld M, Smith KJ, Bhatia A, Djuric V, Leblang S, Rebhun N, Aginsky R, Miller E, Skoglind B, Hananel A. Fluoroscopy-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound neurotomy of the lumbar zygapophyseal joints: a prospective, open-label study<\/strong><\/a>. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2024 Apr 5:rapm-2024-105345. doi: 10.1136\/rapm-2024-105345. PMID: 38580339 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here<\/a> for additional references from PubMed.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"sw_disease_condition_cat":[25],"sw_disease_condition_stage":[15,19,20],"class_list":["post-2909","sw_disease_condition","type-sw_disease_condition","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","sw_disease_condition_cat-pain-relief"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBack Pain\u00a0 - Focused Ultrasound Foundation<\/title>\n<!-- Added by HTTrack --><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /><!-- /Added by HTTrack --> <meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how focused ultrasound could transform the quality of life and decrease the cost of care for patients with Back Pain\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=https://www.fusfoundation.org/"https:////www.fusfoundation.org//diseases-and-conditions//back-pain///" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Back Pain\u00a0 - 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