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. 2022 May 16;7(3):e1008. doi: 10.1097/PR9.0000000000001008

Table 3.

Grading of recommendations, assessment, development, and evaluation (GRADE) of evidence.

Quality Assessment Certainty in outcomes
Risk of bias Imprecision Inconsistency Indirectness Publication bias
Medial Branch Blocks
 Accuracy of injection Moderate risk of bias primarily from selection bias Imprecision because of relatively small sample sizes Some inconsistency from lack of a priori statistics Some concern of indirectness because of a specialized skill set required to perform the procedure that may not be widely available Moderate risk given results that studies nearly universally favor US-guided MBB as feasible and many studies with only a single proceduralist Low
 Procedure time Moderate risk of bias primarily from selection bias Imprecision because of relatively small sample sizes High inconsistency from lack of a priori statistics Some concern of indirectness because of a specialized skill set required to perform the procedure that may not be widely available Moderate risk given many studies with only a single proceduralist Very low
Facet Joint Injections
 Accuracy of injection Moderate risk of bias primarily from selection bias Imprecision because of relatively small sample sizes Some inconsistency from lack of a priori statistics Some concern of indirectness because of a specialized skill set required to perform the procedure that may not be widely available Moderate risk given results that nearly universally favor US-guided FJI as feasible and many studies with only a single proceduralist Low
 Procedure time Moderate risk of bias primarily from selection bias Imprecision because of relatively small sample sizes High inconsistency from variability of effects and lack of a priori statistics Some concern of indirectness because of a specialized skill set required to perform the procedure that may not be widely available Moderate risk given many studies with only a single proceduralist Very low