Original Article

THE EFFICACY OF TRANSFORAMINAL EPIDURAL STEROID INJECTION (TFESI) IN SINGLE LEVEL LUMBAR DISC HERNIATION

  • Sevket EVRAN

Received Date: 11.08.2018 Accepted Date: 14.10.2018 J Turk Spinal Surg 2019;30(1):41-45

Purpose:

Aim of our study is to evaluate the effectiveness of transforaminal epidural steroid injection (TFESI) in patients who have radicular leg pain due to single level lumbar disc herniation and whose complaints did not regress with conservative treatment methods and do not require surgery.

Materials and Methods:

378 patients who were applied TFESI for radicular leg pain between March 2017 and May 2018 were analyzed retrospectively.

Results:

The beginning VAS scores of patients were 8.35 ± 0,75. The VAS score regressed to 4.02±1.77, and 3.89±1,85 in third week and third month respectively after injection. ODI scores of patients regressed from the beginning value of 51.60 ± 6.14 to 28.22 ± 14.57 third week value after injection.

Conclusion:

TFESI shows effective outcomes in pain reduction and functional improvement in patients with radiculopathy which is caused by lumbar disc herniation at short and middle-term follow-up period.

Keywords: Low back pain, radicular leg pain, transforaminal epidural steroid injection, epidural steroid injection