Evaluation of fluoroscopically guided transforaminal epidural steroid injections for cervical radiculopathy utilizing patient reported outcome measurement information system as an outcome measure.

BACKGROUND

Cervical radiculopathy is a common cause of pain. For patients who fail conservative management, a transforaminal epidural steroid injection (TFESI) is an accepted intervention and alternative to decompression surgery.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effect of TFESIs for patients with cervical radiculopathy.

METHODS

Adult patients treated at a multidisciplinary, tertiary academic spine center with cervical radicular pain and MRI evidence of corroborative cervical spondylotic foraminal stenosis and who had failed at least 6 weeks of conservative management consisting of medication and physical rehabilitation were included in this study. Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) domains of Physical Function (PF) v1.2/v2.0 and Pain Interference (PI) v1.1 were collected at baseline and at 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up visits. Statistical analysis comparing baseline score with follow-up post-procedural PROMIS scores was performed. The percentage of patients who reported improvement exceeding the minimal clinically important difference was calculated for survey responders and for the worst case scenario.

RESULTS

87 patients met inclusion criteria. PROMIS PI at 3-, 6-, and 12-months follow-up statistically improved by 2.2 (95 % confidence interval [CI] 2.1-2.4, p = 0.02), 2.3 (95 % CI 2.1-2.5, p = 0.03), and 2.7 (95 % CI 2.5-3.0, p = 0.03) points, respectively. Follow-up PROMIS PF score did not significantly differ from baseline scores. The percentage of patients that exceeded MCID thresholds of clinical significance was 59 % (95 % CI 47%-70 %) at 3-months, 52 % (95 % CI 41%-63 %) at 6-months, and 60 % (95 % CI 50%-72 %) at 12-months. Worst case scenario analysis demonstrated that 51 % (95 % CI 39%-62 %) of patients exceeded the MCID thresholds at 3-months, 32 % (95 % CI 22%-43 %) at 6-months, and 23 % (95 % CI 13%-33 %) at 12-months.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study demonstrated that TFESI leads to a long-term improvement up to a year in pain for patients with cervical radiculopathy.