What is the Impact of Lumbosciatic Infiltration on the Evolution of Herniated Disc and Dorsolumbar Asthrosis?

Abstract

Lumbosciatica is a frequent reason for consultation in general medicine and emergency medicine with an estimated incidence between 2% and 14%. There are several therapeutic modalities, including infiltrations, which are very controversial. Based on this observation, we conducted a prospective study in which 19 patients had undergone epidural and peri-radicular infiltration; the epidural was the most represented infiltration in 68.4% of the patients, the peri-radicular was in 21.1% of them and the combination of both was in 10.5% of the cases, with only 30.6% of the infiltrations carried out under radioscopy. The molecules used were Triamcinolone Acetonide-based Kenacort and Methylprednisolone Acetate-based Depo-Medrol. The evolution of post-infiltration pain decreased significantly in 94.7% of cases, with a statistically significant difference (p = 0.04). No complications were observed in our patients and none of them had resorted to surgery during the follow-up period except for a single case of recurrence of pain relieved by periodic spaced infiltrations. Despite the small size of our sample, we can conclude that infiltration techniques still have a place in the management of Lumbosciatica alongside the surgery.