Ayelet Eran, Yair Safriel, Amit Haboosheh and Olga Lopatina
Objectives: Cervical inter-laminar injections at C7-T1 have been routinely performed for many years as an effective means of palliating neck pain. The purpose of this study is to measure the extent of contrast spread following C7-T1 cervical inter-laminar epidural steroid injection (CIESI), and to correlate the upper extent of contrast spread with degree of cervical spinal stenosis.
Methods: We retrospectively identified 41 consecutive patients over a six months’ time frame fulfilling the following inclusion criteria: (1) Had image guided CIESI at C7-T1, (2) Had PA and oblique epidurogram pre and post procedure, (3) Had procedural notes indicating the amounts injected and (4) Had an antecedent MRI. The epidurograms were reviewed for their extent of injectate spread. MRI studies were evaluated separately and blinded to the epidurograms. For each level the degree of cervical spine narrowing was noted. We correlated the extent of contrast spread with the level of maximal cervical narrowing.
Results: Maximal contrast spread was up to the skull base and down to T4-T5; minimal extent was C6-C7 to T2. We found statistically significant correlation (2-tailed Pearson correlation r= 0.867, p<0.001) between the upper-most extent of contrast spread and the lowest level of significant central canal stenosis according to pre-procedure MRI.
Conclusion: Following CIESI injectate will spread up as far as the cranio-cervical junction or near the lowest level where there is moderate degenerative central stenosis.
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Journal of Spine received 2022 citations as per Google Scholar report
