Sexual Function in Patients with Chronic Lumbar Disc Herniation. Is Epidural Steroid Injection Helpful?

Area of Science:

• Pain Management
• Interventional Pain Medicine
• Sexual Health

Background:

• Lumbar disc herniation commonly causes pain and significant sexual dysfunction.
• Transforaminal epidural steroid injections (TFESI) are a frequent treatment for lumbar disc herniation pain.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of TFESI on sexual function in patients with chronic lumbar disc herniation.
• To assess changes in pain, disability, anxiety, and depression following TFESI.

Main Methods:

• Observational study at a pain management center.
• Included 60 sexually active patients (18-60 years) with lumbar disc herniation.
• Assessed pain (NRS-11), sexual activity pain, disability (ODI), quality of life (SF-12), anxiety/depression (HADS), and sexual function (IIEF for men, FSFI for women) pre- and post-treatment (1 and 3 months).

Main Results:

• Significant improvements were observed in pain, sexual activity pain, disability, anxiety, and depression scores at 1 and 3 months post-injection.
• Women showed significant improvement in overall sexual function (FSFI) at 3 months.
• Men demonstrated significant improvement in overall sexual function (IIEF) at 1 and 3 months.

Conclusions:

• TFESI is effective for short-to-medium term pain relief and functional improvement in lumbar disc herniation.
• TFESI positively impacts sexual function in both male and female patients.
• This study is the first to investigate TFESI's specific effects on sexual function in this patient population.