Comparison of single lumbar transforaminal epidural steroid injections for treatment of early and late recurrent lumbar disc herniation

Abstract

AIM: To compare the results of fluoroscopically guided transforaminal epidural steroid injection (TESI) for pain reduction in ipsilateral early recurrent lumbar disc herniation (RLDH) with ipsilateral late RLDH. MATERIAL and METHODS: A total of 738 patients complaining of radicular pain due to ipsilateral early and late RLDH were assessed. Of these, TESI was administered to 390 subjects for ipsilateral early RLDH and 346 for ipsilateral late RLDH. TESIs were performed based on radicular leg pain; all subjects were followed up and reexamined after 12 weeks of the therapy. Pre- and postprocedural visual analog scale (VAS) scores and all complications were recorded for the study. RESULTS: For radicular pain, the mean pre-, and postprocedural VAS scores for ipsilateral early RLDH were 85.44 ± 6.85 and 20.16 ± 3.77 respectively. For late RLDH, the mean pre-, and postprocedural VAS scores were 72.82 ± 5.12 and 30.87 ± 4.17, respectively. A significant statistical difference for pre- and postprocedural VAS scores were observed between ipsilateral early and late recurrent disc herniation TESI groups (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: TESI was more effective for early RLDH than for late RLDH during the 12-week follow-up period.