Abstract: Objective To investigate the therapeutic effectiveness of ozone combined with low-temperature plasma coagulation therapy on patients with cervical spondylotic radiculopathy and its influence on inflammatory responses. Methods Ozone in combination with low-temperature plasma radio-frequency coagulation was applied to 75 patients with cervical spondylotic radiculopathy in Pain Medicine Department of Capital Medical University Affiliated Beijing Anzhen Hospital from May 2022 to May 2023. Pain scores were assessed using Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Neck Disability Index (NDI) before and two weeks after treatment. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to analyze the level of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) before and two weeks after treatment. Results After treatment with ozone plus low-temperature plasma radiofrequency, VAS and NDI scores showed a significant decrease[VAS: 5.36(4, 7) vs. 1.32(1, 2), P＜0.000 1; NDI: 32.72(24, 70) vs. 7.62(3.55, 8.9), P＜0.000 1]. Two weeks after surgical intervention, there was an effective reduction in the level of IL-6, TNF-αand IFN-γ alleviating the inflammatory response [IL-6: 4.33(2.51, 5.04) vs. 3.49(2.08, 4.43), P＜0.05; TNF-α: 1.95(1.41, 2.21) vs. 1.61(1.02, 2.03), P＜0.05; IFN-γ: 1.84(1.18, 2.47) vs. 1.55(0.76, 2.09), P＜0.05]. Conclusions This Ozone combined with low-temperature plasma radiofrequency ablation is an effective technology for treatment of cervical spondylotic radiculopathy.

Key words: cervical spondylotic radiculopathy, ozone, low-temperature plasma radiofrequency ablation, inflammatory response