The Korean Journal of Pain

The Korean Pain Society (대한통증학회)
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Incidence of Intravascular Penetration during Transforaminal Lumbosacral Epidural Steroid Injection

요부 경추간공 스테로이드 주입 시 혈관천자의 발생률

  • Kim, Dong Won (Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, College of Medicine, Hanyang University) ;
  • Shim, Jae Chol (Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, College of Medicine, Hanyang University)
  • 김동원 (한양대학교 의과대학 마취통증의학교실) ;
  • 심재철 (한양대학교 의과대학 마취통증의학교실)
  • Received : 2006.08.21
  • Accepted : 2007.04.04
  • Published : 2007.06.30
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Abstract

Background: Epidural steroid injections (ESI) are a common treatment for spinal disorders. Previous research has shown that aspiration of the syringe is not a sensitive test for placement of an intravascular needle. Serious complications have been reported from injection of steroids and local anesthetics into the vascular space. In addition to safety concerns, the efficacy may decline with partial injection outside the desired epidural location. We hypothesized that incidence of vascular problems is increased in patients who undergo spine surgery compared with the patients who don't undergo spine surgery. We investigated the incidence of vascular problems during lumbosacral transforaminal ESI and we compared the difference of vascular problems between the patients who undergo spinal surgery and those patients who don't undergo spinal surgery. Methods: Two hundreds and three patients were consecutively recruited and they received 299 fluoroscopically guided lumbosacral transforaminal ESIs. Injection of contrast was performed under live dynamic fluoroscopy with using digital substraction analysis. The observed uptake pattern was classified into one of three categories: flashback, aspirated, and positive contrast with negative flashback and aspiration. Results: The vascular incidence rate was 20.4%. Transforaminal ESIs performed at S1 had avascular incidence rate of 27.8% compared with 17.7% for all the other lumbar injection sites. The sensitivity of spontaneous observation of blood in the needle hub or blood aspirate for predicting an intravascular injection in lumbar transforaminal ESIs was 70.4%. Conclusions: There is a high incidence of intravascular problems when performing transforaminal ESIs, and this is significantly increased in patients with previous spine surgery. Using a flash or blood aspiration to predict an intravascular injection is not sensitive therefore; a negative flash or aspiration is not reliable. Fluoroscopically guided procedures without contrast confirmation are prone to instill medications intravascularly. This finding confirms the need for not only fluoroscopic guidance, but also for contrast injection instillation when performing lumbosacral transforaminal ESIs, and especially for patients with previous spine surgery.

Keywords

References

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