Surgery Prevention by Transforaminal Injection of Epidural Steroids for Cervical Radicular Pain

Completed · Phase 4

Conditions studied: Pain, Radiating

In brief

Cervical radicular pain is a common cause of disability and pain in the upper extremity and neck with an annual incidence of 83.2/100,000 (1). The initial treatment is conservative and includes relative rest, use of anti-inflammatory and analgesic medication, as well as physical therapy and home exercise. For patients who have persistent and significant symptoms, interventional pain management and surgical management are considered. Cervical epidural injections are the mainstay of the interventional, non-surgical modalities. They can be considered to provide short and long-term relief when disc herniation, foraminal stenosis or central canal stenosis pathology is identified. We are not aware of any published prospective, randomized, controlled, double-blinded studies demonstrating the efficacy of cervical transforaminal epidural steroid injections. However, the North American Spine Society (NASS) Review and Recommendation Statement states that based on the literature and expert opinion, a minimum of one or two cervical epidural steroid injections would be very appropriate in the treatment of a specific episode of cervical radicular pain. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of cervical transforaminal epidural steroid injections in decreasing the need for an operation in patients with cervical radicular pain, otherwise considered to be operative candidates.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT02226159

Run by

OrthoCarolina Research Institute, Inc.

People needed

65

Starts

2014-08-01

Expected to finish

2024-12-31

Last updated by the study team

2025-08-11

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Subjects who have cervical radicular pain without significant neurologic deficit (neurologic deficit is defined as manual muscle testing less than 3/5), MRI/CT findings of neural compression (neural compression is defined as disc herniation or central or foraminal spinal stenosis),
• Failed 6 weeks of conservative treatment (conservative treatment is defined as relative rest, home exercise, physical therapy, and use of anti-inflammatory and/or analgesic medications),
• Deemed to be good operative candidates by spine surgeons (patients with MRI/CT findings of neural compression with concordant symptoms) and had agreed to possible operative intervention

You may not qualify if…

• History of
• acute trauma,
• diabetes (type I or type II),
• active infection
• Active progressive neurological deficit (neurologic is deficit defined as manual muscle testing less than 3/5),
• Medical condition that may affect the cervical spine neurological exam and/or pain assessment (e.g. peripheral neuropathy),
• Bilateral disease,
• More than one cervical level requiring injection,
• Bleeding disorders or other medical contraindications to the injection procedure,
• Absence of substantial radicular pain (radicular pain is defined as arm pain greater than neck pain),
• Involvement in workers' compensation claim, or any litigation related to neck injury.
• Patients who are pregnant, or who plan to become pregnant in the next 12 months

Where it is running

• OrthoCarolina — Charlotte, North Carolina, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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