Clinical classification as a predictor of therapeutic outcome after cervical epidural steroid injection.

A retrospective analysis was done on 100 patients who had received cervical epidural steroid injections for neck pain and cervical radiculopathy to identify the predictors of outcome after such treatment. Potential predictors of outcome were assessed individually and then simultaneously with a multiple-regression model. Patients with radicular symptoms and signs had the best pain relief in contradistinction to those with axial (neck) pain. A clinical classification model predicting the outcome and an algorithm for the use of such injections in the treatment of cervical radiculopathy were developed.