Effect of transforaminal anterior epidural steroid injection on neuropathic pain, quality of sleep and life.

OBJECTIVES Transforaminal anterior steroid injections are frequently used for low back pain. In the current study, It was aimed to investigate the effects of transforaminal anterior epidural steroid injection (TAESI) in patients with low back pain in regards to quality of life and sleep, and neuropathic pain. METHODS Ethics committee approval and patient consent were obtained. Patients with low back pain scheduled to receive transforaminal epidural steroid injections between October 2011 and October 2012 were included into the study. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Short form 12 (SF 12), DN4 tests and Visual Analog Scale Score (VAS) were measured prior to procedure and three months later. All the tests were compared with baseline evaluations prior to injections. RESULTS One hundred and two (female/male: 52/50) patients with a mean age of 53.3 ± 1.4 were included. Primary diagnoses were lumbar disc herniation in eighty-seven patients, spinal stenosis in seven and failed back surgery syndrome in eight patients. Statistically significant improvement was seen in the total VAS, DN4 and PSQI scores (p=0.0001) of the patients at the third month follow-up. Sleep duration (p=0.0001), habitual sleep efficiency (p=0.0001), subjective sleep quality (p=0.003), sleep latency (p=0.014), sleep disturbances (p<0.001), sleep medication use (p=0.003), and day time dysfunction (p=0.015) showed a significant decrease in sub-components. There was no significant difference in SF 12 quality of life. CONCLUSION It was determined in the study that transforaminal epidural steroid injection provided a substantial improvement in patients' pain and neuropathic pain and quality of sleep, but had no effect on the quality of life.