Efficacy of epidural methylprednisolone in radicular pain

Abstract Introduction Degenerative disc disease is a prevalent and disabling disease. When the conservative treatment fails to obtain pain relief, epidural steroids are an alternative frequently used worldwide. Objectives To evaluate the efficacy and safety of epidural methylprednisolone in patients with radicular pain. Methodology Descriptive longitudinal retrospective study in patients with chronic radicular pain who received fluoroscopy-guided interventional treatment, between July 2010 and December 2011 at Instituto Colombiano del Dolor (Medellin-Colombia), to determine the efficacy and safety of epidural methylprednisolone in clinical practice. Pain relief was followed using the visual analogue scale, during at least 8 weeks. Results 254 patients were analyzed. The mean age of the patients was 52.8 years (SD ± 15); 52.8% were men. The main diagnosis was lower-limb radicular pain (87.7%). The most frequent procedures were transforaminal lumbar injection (54.3%) and interlaminar lumbar injection (17.7%). The proportion of patients with more than 50% pain relief 50% was 85.8%. There were no differences in efficacy between the procedures. Pain improvement lasted more than 8 weeks in 55% of patients. The incidence of complications was lower than 1%. Conclusions When radicular pain is refractory to conservative treatment based on pharmacological and physical therapy, epidural methylprednisolone is an effective and safe method in our setting.