A Randomized, Prospective, Double-Blind, Equivalence, Controlled Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Transforaminal Epidural Injections in Lumbar Disc Herniation or Radiculitis With or Without Steroids
A Randomized, Prospective, Double-Blind, Equivalence, Controlled Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Transforaminal Epidural Injections in Lumbar Disc Herniation or Radiculitis With or Without Steroids
To evaluate differences in outcomes in patients receiving steroids compared to those patients randomized to the local anesthetic group who did not receive steroids.
To evaluate and compare the adverse event profile in all patients.
Recruitment is indicated in patients with chronic low back and lower extremity pain secondary to lumbar disc herniation and/or lumbar radiculitis of at least 6-months duration, non-responsive to conservative management with NSAIDs, physical therapy, chiropractic treatment, and exercises.
This is a single center study performed in an interventional pain management referral center in the United States.
The study involves 120 patients studied in 2 groups with 60 patients in each group. Randomization includes sequence generation, allocation concealment, implementation, and blinding.
Data management analysis includes sample size justification of 40 patients in each group with a power of 80% and a 0.05% 2-sided significance level. Statistical methodology includes chi-squared statistics, Fisher's exact test, t-test, and paired t-test with significance evaluated at P value < 0.05.
Inclusion criteria:
Exclusion criteria: