William F Lavelle1, Thomas Mroz2, Isador Lieberman3. 1. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, SUNY Upstate Medical University, East Syracuse, NY. 2. Center for Spine Health, The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH. 3. Scoliosis & Spine Tumor Center, Texas Back Institute, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, Plano, TX.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to determine the use of Central Epidural Steroid Injections (ESI) and Selective Nerve Root Blocks (SNRB) along with the crossover rate to lumbar discectomy in patients with a lumbar disc herniation using retrospective records database search. Butterman et al found a crossover rate for patients with symptomatic disc herniations treated with ESI of 54% (27/50), while Riew similarly found a 53% (29/55) crossover patients receiving SNRB. METHODS: The database was searched in a sequential Boolean style for patients with the diagnosis of a lumbar disc herniation (Displaced Lumbar Disc - 722.1) and a SNRB (64483) or ESI (62311) who subsequently underwent a Lumbar Discectomy (63030) over a three year time period from January 2004 through December 2006. Statistical analysis was preformed examining the impact of injection type, age, location, gender, and year. RESULTS: Of 482,893 patients with the diagnosis of a disc herniation, 27,799(5.76%) underwent a lumbar discectomy. The 29,941 patients who received at least one SNRB for a disc herniation, 10.80% later underwent a lumbar discectomy. The 41,420 patients who received at least one ESI for a disc herniation 9.34% later underwent a lumbar discectomy. There was a noted increase in injection procedures, particularly SNRB during the study with a greater than 50% increase. CONCLUSIONS: Our examination found a much smaller, but similar crossover rate to surgery between both injection methods, which argues against one method being more effective than another in avoiding surgery. It is likely that patients are receiving these procedures more frequently during the course of conservative treatment for a disc herniation. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: This was a Level III study.
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to determine the use of Central Epidural Steroid Injections (ESI) and Selective Nerve Root Blocks (SNRB) along with the crossover rate to lumbar discectomy in patients with a lumbar disc herniation using retrospective records database search. Butterman et al found a crossover rate for patients with symptomatic disc herniations treated with ESI of 54% (27/50), while Riew similarly found a 53% (29/55) crossover patients receiving SNRB. METHODS: The database was searched in a sequential Boolean style for patients with the diagnosis of a lumbar disc herniation (Displaced Lumbar Disc - 722.1) and a SNRB (64483) or ESI (62311) who subsequently underwent a Lumbar Discectomy (63030) over a three year time period from January 2004 through December 2006. Statistical analysis was preformed examining the impact of injection type, age, location, gender, and year. RESULTS: Of 482,893 patients with the diagnosis of a disc herniation, 27,799(5.76%) underwent a lumbar discectomy. The 29,941 patients who received at least one SNRB for a disc herniation, 10.80% later underwent a lumbar discectomy. The 41,420 patients who received at least one ESI for a disc herniation 9.34% later underwent a lumbar discectomy. There was a noted increase in injection procedures, particularly SNRB during the study with a greater than 50% increase. CONCLUSIONS: Our examination found a much smaller, but similar crossover rate to surgery between both injection methods, which argues against one method being more effective than another in avoiding surgery. It is likely that patients are receiving these procedures more frequently during the course of conservative treatment for a disc herniation. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: This was a Level III study.
Authors: K Daniel Riew; Jong-Beom Park; Yong-Sun Cho; Louis Gilula; Alpesh Patel; Lawrence G Lenke; Keith H Bridwell Journal: J Bone Joint Surg Am Date: 2006-08 Impact factor: 5.284
Authors: Jon D Lurie; Anna N A Tosteson; Tor D Tosteson; Eugene Carragee; John A Carrino; John Carrino; Jay Kaiser; Roberto T Blanco Sequeiros; Amy Rosen Lecomte; Margaret R Grove; Emily A Blood; Loretta H Pearson; Richard Herzog; James N Weinstein Journal: Spine (Phila Pa 1976) Date: 2008-04-20 Impact factor: 3.468