Evidence map›Paper›PMID 16835737›Full record

Trial reportEuropean spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society2007

Transforaminal steroid injections for the treatment of cervical radiculopathy: a prospective and randomised study.

Leif Anderberg, Mårten Annertz, Liselott Persson, Lennart Brandt, Hans Säveland

Registry-linked trialOpen access · bronzeAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02226159 (Surgery Prevention by Transforaminal Injection of Epidural Steroids for Cervical Radicular Pain), which is not on this map. Cited by 47 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
47citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
3.1field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT02226159 phase4completednot on this mapstarted 2014, after this paper: background citation

Surgery Prevention by Transforaminal Injection of Epidural Steroids for Cervical Radicular Pain (SPIES): a Randomized, Controlled Trial

TypeinterventionalSponsorOrthoCarolina Research Institute, Inc.Ran2014 to 2024Enrolled65ConditionsPain, RadiatingArmsLidocaine, Lidocaine with Dexamethasone
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

47 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 139 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Safe Use of Epidural Corticosteroid Injections: Recommendations of the WIP Benelux Work Group.Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain · 2019
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Leif AnderbergDepartment of Neurosurgery, University Hospital, 22185, Lund, Sweden. leif.anderberg@med.lu.se
Mårten Annertz
Liselott Persson
Lennart Brandt
Hans Säveland
Lund University · SE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Steroid injections are often employed as an alternative treatment for radicular pain in patients with degenerative spinal disorders. Prospective randomised studies of the lumbar spine reveal contradictory results and non-randomised and most often retrospective studies of the cervical spine indicate pain reduction from steroid injections. No prospective randomised study on transforaminal steroid injections for the treatment of radicular pain in the cervical spine focusing on short-term results has been performed. Forty consecutive patients were employed for the study. The inclusion criteria were one-sided cervical radiculopathy with radicular distribution of arm pain distal to the elbow and corresponding significant degenerative pathology of the cervical spine at one or two levels on the same side as the radicular pain and visualised by MRI. A transforaminal technique was used for all injections. A positive response to a diagnostic selective nerve root block at one or two nerve roots was mandatory for all patients. The patients were randomised for treatment with steroids/local anaesthetics or saline/local anaesthetic. Only the neuroradiologist performing the blocks was aware of the content of the injection; all other persons involved in the study were blinded. Follow up was made 3 weeks after the randomised treatment by a clinical investigation and with a questionnaire focusing on the subjective effects from the injections. At follow up, there were no differences in treatment results in the two patient groups. Statistical analysis of the results confirmed the lack of difference in treatment effect. Further studies have to be performed before excluding steroids in such treatment and for evaluating the influence of local anaesthetics on radiculopathy in transforaminal injections.

Indexed as

Adrenal Cortex HormonesAdultAgedBack PainFemaleHumansInjections, SpinalMaleMiddle AgedProspective StudiesRadiculopathyTreatment OutcomeAdrenal Cortex Hormones

Identifiers

PMID16835737
PMCPMC2200696
OpenAlexW2051522425

What OpenQuestion holds

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Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.