Lumbar Selective Nerve Root Block: Comparative Study Using Two Pharmacological Formulae

Retrospective cohort study.

The objective of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of 2 different pharmacological formulae in selective nerve root injections.

We studied a series of 298 patients who received a selective nerve root injection and made a comparative study dividing them into 2 groups according to the drugs used. In group A, we used betamethasone 6 mg and lidocaine, while in group B, triamcinolone 60 mg and bupivacaine were used for the procedure. We evaluated the patients for a period of at least 8 months, assuming the need for surgical therapy as the failure of the procedure.

Both groups had 149 patients with similar etiological characteristics. Forty-seven patients (16%) required surgery to relieve pain with a similar distribution between groups (24 from group A and 23 from group B). Time between nerve root injection and surgery was 86.79 (14-360) days on average in group A and 75.76 (2-180) days in group B with no statistical difference (P = .67). Only one complication was documented, an anaphylactic shock in a patient in group B.

Based on these results, we found no difference in the type of steroid or local anesthetic used for selective nerve root injections.