Epidural Steroid Injection
Encyclopedia
Epidural Steroid Injection is a technique for relieving pain from spinal stenosis
and spinal disc herniation
. Using a needle, relatively small amounts of corticosteroids together with a local anesthetic
are injected into the epidural space
around the spinal cord
and spinal nerves. The anti-inflammatory effects of the corticosteroid is responsible for providing pain relief.
Modern techniques employ image guidance
for accuracy. This allows the physician to visualize the location of the needle with respect to the anatomy prior to the injection. While traditional techniques without image guidance, also known as blind injections can assure a degree of accuracy using anatomical landmarks, it has been shown in studies that image guidance provides much more reliable localization and accuracy in comparison.
Spinal stenosis
Lumbar spinal stenosis is a medical condition in which the spinal canal narrows and compresses the spinal cord and nerves at the level of the lumbar vertebra. This is usually due to the common occurrence of spinal degeneration that occurs with aging. It can also sometimes be caused by spinal disc...
and spinal disc herniation
Spinal disc herniation
A spinal disc herniation , informally and misleadingly called a "slipped disc", is a medical condition affecting the spine due to trauma, lifting injuries, or idiopathic, in which a tear in the outer, fibrous ring of an intervertebral disc allows the soft, central portion A spinal disc herniation...
. Using a needle, relatively small amounts of corticosteroids together with a local anesthetic
Local anesthetic
A local anesthetic is a drug that causes reversible local anesthesia, generally for the aim of having local analgesic effect, that is, inducing absence of pain sensation, although other local senses are often affected as well...
are injected into the epidural space
Epidural space
In the spine, the epidural space is the outermost part of the spinal canal. It is the space within the canal lying outside the dura mater...
around the spinal cord
Spinal cord
The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain . The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system...
and spinal nerves. The anti-inflammatory effects of the corticosteroid is responsible for providing pain relief.
Modern techniques employ image guidance
Fluoroscopy
Fluoroscopy is an imaging technique commonly used by physicians to obtain real-time moving images of the internal structures of a patient through the use of a fluoroscope. In its simplest form, a fluoroscope consists of an X-ray source and fluorescent screen between which a patient is placed...
for accuracy. This allows the physician to visualize the location of the needle with respect to the anatomy prior to the injection. While traditional techniques without image guidance, also known as blind injections can assure a degree of accuracy using anatomical landmarks, it has been shown in studies that image guidance provides much more reliable localization and accuracy in comparison.