Index by author

The authors evaluated the immediate and short-term efficacy of intra-articular and periarticular steroid/anesthetic injections for facet-mediated lumbar pain. Seventy-seven patients had 100 procedures with 205 total facet joints injected. All intra-articular, all periarticular, and partial peri-/intra-articular injections constituted 54%, 20%, and 26% of the cases, respectively. The immediate and 1-week postprocedural change in pain was -3.7 and -1.4 for the all intra-articular and -3.6 and -1.2 for the combined group. They conclude that the intra-articular and periarticular fluoroscopically guided facet injections provide statistically significant and similar pain relief both immediately and 1 week postinjection.