** click the blue article titles below for the abstracts
note: recent additions will be added to the top of the list
- Clin J Pain. 2009 Mar-Apr;25(3):206-10
- Looked at patients with axial low back pain only (no radiculopathy)
- In patients with spinal stenosis (SS), the bilateral transforaminal ESI produced better results than the interlaminar approach.
- Authors believe this was because there is more scaring with SS, and this limits the amount of injectate to the ventral epidural space.
11 - Predictive factors of efficacy of periradicular corticosteroid injections for lumbar radiculopathy
- AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2006 May;27(5):978-82.
- “…a simple, safe, and effective nonsurgical procedure…that should be performed quite early in the course of the illness”
- Patients with excellent results = ~3 months duration of symptoms before injection
- Patients with poor results = ~8 months duration of symptoms
- Pain Physician. 2006 Oct;9(4):361-6.
- Transforaminal epidural steroid injections: ¹better short-term pain improvement, and ²fewer long-term surgical interventions than interlaminar epidural steroid injection
9 - Effectiveness of transforaminal epidural steroid injections in low back pain: a one year experience
- Pain Physician. 2002 Jul;5(3):266-70
- 59% of patients with discogenic abnormalities on MRI experienced >50% pain relief at one year after initial injection
- Pain Physician. 2004 Jul;7(3):311-7
- Post injection success: One week = 59.6%; One month = 55.8%; One year = 37.2%; Two years = 27.3%
- “…an effective nonsurgical treatment option for patients with degenerative lumbar SCOLIOTIC stenosis and radiculopathy and should be considered before surgical intervention.”
- Korean J Radiol. 2006 Apr-Jun;7(2):139-44 *images of the preganglionic approach can be found in the link above
- “…preganglionic TFESI has the better therapeutic effect…the difference between the two treatments had borderline statistical significance.”
- Chang Gung Med J. 2006 Jan-Feb;29(1):93-9
- “…relatively simple, effective and low-risk alternative to surgical decompression for the treatment of lumbar disc herniation”
- Improves the patient’s daily activity and reduces the need for surgical decompression
- Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2005 Jul;86(7):1477-83
- The evidence for TFESIs reveals level III (moderate) evidence. More prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled studies using sham procedures are needed.
4 – Fluoroscopy guided L5-S1 transforaminal injection as a treatement for s1 radiculopathy
- J Radiol. 2004 Nov;85(11):1937-41.
- Significant improvement: Day 8 = 60%; Day 30 = 60-67%; Day 90 = 67%
- Good efficacy in the treatment of S1 radiculopathy
3 - Treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis with epidural steroid injections: a retrospective outcome study
- Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2004 Mar;85(3):479-84
- Used transforaminal and caudal fluoroscopically-guided injections
- Pain relief: More than 2 months = 32%; Less than 2 months = 39%; No relief = 29%
- Improved function in 53%
- Only 20% had surgery
- Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2002 Jan 1;27(1):11-6
- Lumbar transforaminal ESI vs normal saline trigger point injection (mock ESI)
- After an average follow-up of 1.4 years, the TF-ESI group had success rate of 84%, compared to the trigger point group with 48%
1 - Therapeutic efficacy of selective nerve root blocks in the treatment of lumbar radicular leg pain
- Swiss Med Wkly. 2001 Feb 10;131(5-6):75-80.
- 30 patients with clinical and MRI findings justifying surgery
- 87% had rapid pain relief; 60% had permanent resolution of pain, so surgery was avoided at the average of 16-month follow-up.
