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Generalized pruritus as an unusual side effect after epidural injection with dexamethasone
Omar El Abd1, Daniel Camargo Pimentel2, João Eduardo Daud Amadera3
1Newton Wellesley Interventional Spine LLC, Wellesley, MA∗
Abstract:
A 51-year-old man with lumbar radiculopathy underwent a right L5 transforaminal epidural steroid injection with dexamethasone. One minute after the injection, the patient experienced severe pruritus and burning, which began in the groin and then spread throughout his body. The symptoms resolved completely after 1 minute, and the patient was discharged without any complications. Although there are a small number of publications reporting perineal pruritus after intravenous administration of dexamethasone, to our knowledge there is no report of a generalized reaction to an epidural dexamethasone injection such as the one described here.
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