A Survey Complications Following Cervical Epidural Steroid Injections

the epidural space is commonly used to treat radicular pain (1, 2) Although there are randomized controlled studies sup-porting short-term effectiveness of epi-dural steroid injections (ESIs) in relieving lower extremity pain, there are no pub-lished randomized control studies eval-uating the effectiveness of cervical epi-dural steroid injections. (3, 4) However, there are prospective studies document-ing a significant reduction in extremity pain following transforaminal and inter-Background: Two major portals are available for delivery of medication into the cervical epidural space: interlaminar and transforaminal. The choice of which approach to use is commonly made by assessing the patient’s structural pathology, one’s skill in performing each procedure, and then weighing the advantages versus the risk associated with the particular technique. Over the past several years, a growing num-ber of cases involving serious complications following cervical transforaminal epidural steroid injections have led some to ques-tion the safety of the procedure and to pref-erentially perform interlaminar epidural in-jections. Objective: To explore the prevalence of complications caused by transforaminal ver-sus interlaminar injections. Design: Retrospective survey. Methods: We selected the list of course instructors of the International Spine Intervention Society (ISIS) as our source for expert spine injection specialists. All data were collected by survey during a period from April 2004 through June 2004. Questions were asked about the type of cervical epidural injections performed and any complications during the preced-ing 12 months, January through Decembe