Lumbar spinal stenosis: methods of treatment with emphasis on epidural steroid injections

Background and Purpose: The aim of the study was to compare two techniques of steroid application into epidural space to patients with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS), a chronic degenerative spine disorder. Patients and Methods: Sixty LSS patients have been distributed into 2 groups: “BLIND” (n=30, interlaminar epidural steroid injection without RTG control) and “RTG” (n=30, transforaminal epidural injection with RTG control). All patients have received 80 mg of triamcinolon (Kenalog) into epidural space on L4/L5 level, together with 0,5% lidocain (patients in RTG group 3 ml and those in BLIND group 10 ml) in 3 week intervals. They were asked to describe the pain using visual analogue scales (VAS) at the beginning of treatment (VAS-0), after the first (VAS-1), the second (VAS-2) and the third epidural injection (VAS-3). The differences between groups were shown using t-test (age) and c2-test (gender). Medians of VAS scores were statistically described using non parametrial methods. P<0.05 was considered as a statistically significant. Results: There is no statistical difference among patients regarding to age (P=0.93), gender (P=0.12) and VAS-0 score before the first injection (P=0.27). There is a statistically significant reduction of pain in relation to VAS-0 in both groups (P