ArticleCureus2024
Radicular Pain Management Using Ultrasound-Guided Versus Fluoroscopy-Guided Epidural Steroid Injections: A Systematic Scoping Review of Comparative Studies.
Article in Cureus, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Anatomical and Clinical Validation of a Novel Ultrasound-Guided Approach to Lumbar Transforaminal Epidural Injection "Lambda Sign over Horizontal Line".Spine surgery and related research · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Back pain is the leading cause of disability globally and results in a substantial medical and economic burden. Epidural steroid injections (ESIs) have been widely used as a treatment for back pain with radiculopathy of various etiologies. Ultrasound guidance (UG) for delivering ESIs can reduce costs and facilitate the procedure in resource-limited settings compared to the current standard technique of using fluoroscopic guidance (FG). This scoping review aimed to compare the clinical outcomes between UG and FG ESIs in the treatment of radicular pain. Systematic searches of Embase, Ovid Medline, Scopus, CENTRAL (Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials), CDSR (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews), and ClinicalTrials.gov were conducted in accordance with PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews) guidelines. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and comparative observational studies investigating the outcomes between UG and FG ESIs in the treatment of radicular pain were included. The risk of bias for included RCTs was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration risk-of-bias tool. From 1,659 potentially relevant publications, eight studies (five RCTs and three retrospective comparative studies) were included. Five of the studies were conducted in the Republic of Korea, one in China, one in India, and one in Egypt. All studies reported no significant difference between UG and FG ESIs in success rate, pain index, and postoperative disability (p > 0.05). One study reported increased intravascular injections in the FG group, but this did not reach statistical significance (p > 0.05). One study reported decreased needle-placement time in the UG group (p < 0.001). One study reported decreased total operation time in the UG group (p < 0.05). Overall, treatment outcomes and adverse events profile are comparable between UG and FG ESIs for radicular pain. UG ESIs reduce costs, minimize radiation exposure, facilitate vessel identification, prevent injury, and potentially save intraoperative time while offering the same benefits as FG injections. Future studies should focus on long-term outcomes, cost-effectiveness, and the impact of UG ESIs on patient satisfaction and quality of life.
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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.