0000000000280175
AUTHOR
José María Hernández
Nerve Root and Types of Needles Used in Transforaminal Injections
The use of transforaminal epidural injections of steroids is common practice in pain medicine, in patients with radicular pain resistant to conventional treatments such as physiotherapy or anti-inflammatory medications. The goal of these injections is to deposit steroids in the proximity of nerve roots, using the epidural or the transforaminal route. The procedure is performed using a translaminar, caudal, or transforaminal approach.
Injections of Particulate Steroids for Nerve Root Blockade: Ultrastructural Examination of Complicating Factors
Selective nerve root block by a transforaminal approach with radiological control allows injection of an appropriate corticosteroid next to the nerve root, although it has been associated with major neurological complications in a few cases. There have been several reports in which corticosteroid injections performed at the level of the cervical or lumbar spine have led to severe spinal cord ischemic infarction. These have occurred independently of whether the procedure was performed under radiological control, in which the tip of the needle is identified to prevent vascular spreading of the solution injected.