1.
Patients
This retrospective study was approved by the institutional review board,
which waived the need for informed consent. A total of 1463 patients underwent consecutive spinal steroid injections from January to June,
2017 (Fig.
1,
Table 1).
1) inclusion criteria
.
Individuals receiving ESIs using dexamethasone via interlaminar,
transforaminal,
and caudal approach
.
Individuals having follow-up telephone interview within 2weeks of the procedure
2) Exclusion criteria
.
Facet joint injections performed alone or with ESI
.
No follow-up phone call interview
.
Half dose of dexamethasone
2. Procedures
All ESIs were performed by one of two radiologist with expertise in administering spinal intervention under the fluoroscopic guidance.
A uniplanar digital subtraction angiography unit (Integris Allura Xper FD20; Philips,
Best,
The Netherlands) was used.
Patients were laid prone with sterile preparation and draping for the injection.
All ESIs were performed via one of three routes: transforaminal,
interlaminar,
or caudal.
The needle was advanced from the skin to each respective target site:
1) the neural foramen under the pedicle for the transforaminal approach
2) the posterior epidural space for the interlaminar approach
3) the midline cranial area of sacral hiatus for the caudal approach.
After confirmation of the epidural space by injecting contrast medium under fluoroscopy,
the steroid was injected.
The injected steroid was 2 mL of dexamethasone sodium phosphate (10 mg per mL; Choongwae Pharma Corporation,
Seoul,
Korea) (Table 2).
3.
Telephone interview
All patients were scheduled to receive a phone call two weeks after ESI.
Phone call interview was conducted by two research assistants.
During the phone interview,
patients were requested to report any adverse reaction related to the ESIs,
according to the standardized questionnaire (Table 3).
4.
Statistical analysis
The occurence and frequency of systemid adverse reactions were investigated.The relationships of patients’ demographics,
clinical and procedural factors to adverse reactions were analyzed by Chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test