Evaluation of the efficiency of the administration of therapotic cervical transforaminal epidural steroid injection

Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate the pre- and post-procedure pain levels as measured by the VAS score (Visual Analogue Scale) and the treatment outcomes in patients who received interlaminar cervical steroid injections. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted after obtaining permission from the Non-Interventional Studies Ethics Committee of Dicle University Faculty of Medicine. Between 01.01.2019-01.01.2021, in the operating room of Dicle University Hospital, the anesthesia records and pre- and post-procedure VAS pain scores of patients over 18 years of age who were scheduled for elective interlaminar cervical steroid injection were evaluated. Post-procedure pain history was taken from the patients who had the interlaminar cervical steroid injection, and the patients were evaluated retrospectively. The demographic characteristics of the cases (gender, age, height, weight), history of surgery in the cervical region, postoperative analgesic needs, postoperative pain scales, need for re-procedure, and presence of complications were evaluated. The VAS score was calculated for all patients before surgery to determine the level of pain. In addition, the VAS score was calculated 2 weeks after the procedure to evaluate the post-treatment response. The data obtained was statistically evaluated in the SPSS program. Results: A total of 735 patients, 64.1% of whom were women (n=471), were included in our study. The female to male ratio was determined to be approximately 2. The mean age of the patients was 49.65±14.28 (range: 18-92). A chronic co-disease was detected in 49% of the patients (n=360). The mean pre-procedure VAS score of the patients was 8.22±1.25 (range: 6-10; median 8.26) and the mean post-procedure VAS score was 3.39±0.68 (range: 2-4; median 3.44). It was found that the post-procedure VAS pain score of the patients significantly decreased (p=0.000). The procedure was considered successful in patients with a reduction of more than 50% in the VAS score. Accordingly, the success rate in our study was recorded as 86% (634/735). No significant difference was found between pre- and post-procedure VAS scores in terms of gender (p>0.05). No significant difference was found between pre- and post-procedure VAS scores in terms of the presence of chronic disease (p>0.05). No correlation was found between the ages of the patients and the VAS scores (p<0.05). A weak positive correlation was found between the pre-procedure VAS scores and the post-procedure VAS scores (p<0.05, r=0.162). Conclusions: Cervical epidural steroid injection performed under fluoroscopy is a procedure with a high success rate. It can be applied as a non-surgical treatment method in selected cases.