Does ultrasound-guided facet joint injection reduce pain and improve mobility in patients with failed back surgery syndrome?
Musa Çırak1, Sibel Çağlar Okur2
1Department of Neurosurgery, Bakırköy Dr. Sadi Konuk Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
2Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Bakırköy Dr. Sadi Konuk Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
Keywords: Facet joint injection, failed back surgery syndrome, low back pain, lumbar disc surgery, postoperative pain, spinal surgery, ultrasound-guided.
Abstract
Objectives: This study aims to evaluate whether ultrasound (US)- guided facet joint injection reduces pain and improves mobility in patients with failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS).
Patients and methods: This retrospective study included 27 patients (8 males, 19 females; mean age 43.6±11.5 years; range, 31 to 54 years) who underwent US-guided facet injections for FBSS between January 2017 and January 2019. Patients’ medial records were assessed. Pain rating scores were evaluated with the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS). Functional status was assessed with Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) version 2.0. Lumbar flexion degree was noted. After injection (lidocaine-betamethasone mixture), patients were reevaluated at first and sixth months. The study data were analyzed with Wilcoxon signed-rank test.
Results: Successful facet joint injections were achieved without any complications in all patients. The median duration of time after surgery was 7.8±1.3 months. Mean duration of pain was 6.7±5.7 months. There was a significant decrease in NRS values between baseline and sixth month comparison (7.0 at baseline and 6.0 at sixth month, p=0.006). Baseline-first month and first-sixth months comparisons were not significant (p=0.165 and p=0.106, respectively). For ODI, no significant change was observed between baseline-first month, first-sixth months, and baseline-sixth month comparisons (p=0.109, p=0.857, and p=0.095, respectively). For lumbar flexion, all comparisons resulted in significant increase (50.0° for baseline, 60.0° at first month, and 70.0° at sixth month; p<0.001 for baseline-first month comparison, p<0.001 for baseline-sixth month comparison, and p<0.001 for first-sixth months comparison).
Conclusion: Our results show that pain is reduced and mobility is improved with US-guided facet joint injections in patients with FBSS.
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.