Skip to main content
SIR 2026 Event Main banner

SIR 2026

Traditional Poster

Pain Management/MSK

Session: Traditional Poster Presentations

596 - Cryoneurolysis in Malignant and Non-malignant Pain: A Comparison of Outcomes

Monday, April 13, 2026
12:10 PM - 1:10 PM ET
Purpose: Cryoneurolysis is an emerging technique for the treatment of refractory pain in several anatomic regions. While early reports have been promising the cause of pain can vary widely and prior studies have reported primarily on cancer related pain patients. Here in the authors evaluate if outcomes differ in patients with malignant or non-malignant related pain when being treated with cryoneurolysis.

Materials and Methods: Consecutive patients who underwent cryoneurolysis of the impar ganglion, pudendal, splanchnic or celiac nerves were retrospectively reviewed. Visual analog scale (VAS) pain scores were recorded prior to and after the procedure. Numeric improvement (NI) in VAS was calculated by the following formula: (VAS pretreatment) – (VAS post treatment). While percent improvement (PI) was calculated with this formula: (NI VAS)/(VAS post treatment). Demographic variables and adverse events were also recorded.

Results: In total 92 patients were included, of which 70 (70/92, 76.1%) had malignant pain and 22 (22/92, 33.9%) had non-malignant pain. In the entire cohort the VAS significantly improved when pretreatment (8.5 ± 1.6) scores were compared to 1 week (4.2 ± 2.5), 1 month (4.1 ± 2.8), 3 months (4.9 ± 3.1) and 6 months (6.4 ± 2.6) post treatment scores (p< 0.05, for all). Similarly, when the malignant pretreatment VAS scores (8.4 ± 2.5) were compared to the 1 week (4.4 ± 2.5), 1 month (4.2 ± 2.8), 3 months (4.5 ± 3.1) and 6 months (6.8 ± 2.8) scores there was significant improvement (p< 0.05, for all). The non-malignant VASs also demonstrated significant improvement when comparing pretreatment (8.7 ± 1.4) to 1 week (3.6 ± 2.5), 1 month (3.9 ± 2.8), 3 months (5.8 ± 3), and 6 months (5.6 ± 2.2) time points (p< 0.05, for all). Comparisons between NI and PI of malignant and non-malignant patients can be found in table 1, however, no significant difference was found between either of these measures at any time point.

Conclusion: Cryoneurolysis appears to be a promising method for treatment of both malignant and non-malignant pain.