Selective nerve root block in lumbar radiculopathy in lumbar disc prolapse

Abstract

Back ground: Use of SNRB in lumbar disc prolapse to relieve lumbar radicular pain has been in practice during recent times. We conducted this prospective study to evaluate the pain relief following SNRB using steroid injection. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective study conducted on 60 patients aged 25 to 60 years, of both gender with complaints of low backache with radiculopathy, unilateral, or bilateral, not relieved by analgesics or physiotherapy. We used 1 cc (40 mg) of methylprednisolone with 1 cc of 2% xylocaine for selective nerve root block. We assessed the pain using VAS score before and after the procedure and follow-up was done at 1, 3 and 6 months for pain relief evaluation. Results: The mean age of our patients was 38.1 years ranging from 25 to 60 years. Majority were females (55%) and middle aged (40-50 years) (33.3%). Most of the cases were right sided (46.7%) and had L4-L5 herniation (34%), was postero-central on disc-axial section (46%) and had extrusion on sagittal section (50%). The pre-injection VAS score was 7.25 and immediate post injection VAS score decreased to 1.71. With further follow up at 1, 3 and 6 months, there was a moderately decreasing trend of VAS score. Conclusions: SNRB is a reasonably safe procedure to provide short-term pain relief for lumbar radiculopathy in lumbar disc prolapse.