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    NANS 2026

    Should We Stimulate or Ablate the Lumbar Medial Branch Nerve (LMBN) for the Treatment of Chronic Low Back Pain (CLBP)?

    Closing Discussion Q&A

    Saturday, January 24, 2026
    4:50 PM - 5:00 PM PST
    Location: Milano Ballroom VII & VIII
    Session

    Description:     This session will be a panel discussion to answer the proposed clinical question: Should we ablate or stimulate the lumbar medial branch nerve (LMBN) to treat chronic axial low back pain? Speakers will be experts in the field of pain medicine with an emphasis in comprehensive, multidisciplinary spine care from different academic centers nationwide. We will utilize audiovisual aids and have an interactive discussion with the audience reviewing the evidence based behind the clinical question proposed with time for Q&A, slides presentations, review of guidelines and newly published evidence from (past 3 years) on this topic that have the potential to alter the way we perform LMBN ablation and LMBN stimulation and how we may evolve in clinical practice.

      Primary Chair(s)

    • Vinny Francio, MD, MS

      Associate Program Director, Assistant Professor
      Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
      St. Louis, Missouri, United States

      • Speaker(s)

    • Benjamin Westerhaus, MD

      Physician
      Cantor Spine Center at the Paley Institute

    • David Lee, MD

      Interventional Pain
      University of California, Irvine
      Fullerton, California, United States

    • Alaa A. Abd-Elsayed, MD, MPH

      Medical Director
      Department of Anesthesiology, University of WI School of Medicine and Public Health
      Madison, Wisconsin, United States