CT-guided infiltration saves surgical intervention and fastens return to work compared to anatomical landmark-guided infiltration in patients with lumbosciatica

Deml, MC; Buhr, Michael; Wimmer, Matthias D; Pflugmacher, Robert; Riedel, Rainer; Rommelspacher, Yorck; Kabir, Koroush (2015). CT-guided infiltration saves surgical intervention and fastens return to work compared to anatomical landmark-guided infiltration in patients with lumbosciatica. European journal of orthopaedic surgery & traumatology, 25(Suppl 1), S177-S182. Springer 10.1007/s00590-015-1602-9

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BACKGROUND

Infiltration procedures are a common treatment of lumbar radiculopathy. There is a wide variety of infiltration techniques without an established gold standard. Therefore, we compared the effectiveness of CT-guided transforaminal infiltrations versus anatomical landmark-guided transforaminal infiltrations at the lower lumbar spine in case of acute sciatica at L3-L5.

METHODS

A retrospective chart review was conducted of 107 outpatients treated between 2009 and 2011. All patients were diagnosed with lumbar radiculopathic pain secondary to disc herniation in L3-L5. A total of 52 patients received CT-guided transforaminal infiltrations; 55 patients received non-imaging-guided nerve root infiltrations. The therapeutic success was evaluated regarding number of physician contacts, duration of treatment, type of analgesics used and loss of work days. Defined endpoint was surgery at the lower lumbar spine.

RESULTS

In the CT group, patients needed significantly less oral analgesics (p < 0.001). Overall treatment duration and physician contacts were significantly lower in the CT group (p < 0.001 and 0.002) either. In the CT group, patients lost significant fewer work days due to incapacity (p < 0.001). Surgery had to be performed in 18.2 % of the non-imaging group patients (CT group: 1.9 %; p = 0.008).

CONCLUSION

This study shows that CT-guided periradicular infiltration in lumbosciatica caused by intervertebral disc herniation is significantly superior to non-imaging, anatomical landmark-guided infiltration, regarding the parameters investigated. The high number of treatment failures in the non-imaging group underlines the inferiority of this treatment concept.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Orthopaedic, Plastic and Hand Surgery (DOPH) > Clinic of Orthopaedic Surgery

UniBE Contributor:

Deml, Moritz Caspar

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

1633-8065

Publisher:

Springer

Language:

English

Submitter:

Fabian Röthlisberger

Date Deposited:

22 Mar 2016 08:30

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:52

Publisher DOI:

10.1007/s00590-015-1602-9

PubMed ID:

25708619

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.77109

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/77109

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