Asian Spine J.  2014 Oct;8(5):646-652. 10.4184/asj.2014.8.5.646.

Comparison of Two Methods of Epidural Steroid Injection in the Treatment of Recurrent Lumbar Disc Herniation

• Karamouzian S
• Ebrahimi-Nejad A
• Shahsavarani S
• Keikhosravi E
• Shahba M
• Ebrahimi F

• KMID: 2270247
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4184/asj.2014.8.5.646

Abstract

STUDY DESIGN: Prospective study. PURPOSE: We compared the effects of two methods of epidural steroid injection in patients with recurrent disc herniation. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE: To our knowledge, there is no previous report of such a comparison in these patients.
METHODS
The study was performed with 30 patients with relapsed lumbar disc herniation whose pain was not relieved by conservative remedies. The patients were divided into two groups, each of 15 patients, and entered the study for caudal or transforaminal injections. The degree of pain, ability to stand and walk, and the Prolo function score were evaluated in both groups before the injection and 2 months and 6 months after the injection.
RESULTS
The degrees of pain reduction in the caudal injection group in the second and sixth months were 0.6 and 1.63, respectively, and in the transforaminal injection group were 1.33 and 1.56, respectively. The difference between the two methods was not statistically significant. Similarly, no other evaluated criterion showed a significant difference between the methods.
CONCLUSIONS
In the current study, the caudal and transforaminal steroid injection methods showed similar outcomes in the treatment of relapsed lumbar disc herniation. However, more detailed patient categorizing may help in finding possible subgroups with differences.

Keyword

Lumbar spine; Recurrent disc herniation; Epidural steroid; Caudal; Transforaminal

MeSH Terms

Humans
Prospective Studies