Background: Foraminal stenosis, defined as a narrowing of the cervical neural foramen, is one
of the most common causes of upper extremity radicular pain.
Objectives: The aim of our study was to determine the effects of the severity of neural foraminal
stenosis and spinal herniation level on treatment success in patients treated with interlaminar
epidural steroid injections (ILESI) due to cervical disc herniation-related radiculopathy and their
possible predictive roles.
Study Design: A retrospective assessment.
Setting: A university hospital interventional pain management center.
Methods: We performed our study between August 2017 and February 2019, retrospectively. All
patients’ demographic characteristics, clinical and demographic data, including pain scores before
and after cervical ILESI in the first hour, third week, and third month follow-ups, presence of motor
deficits, symptom side, symptom duration before cervical ILESI, and whether there was progression
to surgery in the 3-month period after injection, were collected.
Results: We evaluated 61 patients in the final analysis. When the spinal herniation levels and
foraminal stenosis grades were compared, there was a significant difference between the groups
(P = 0.003, P = 0.005). We reported significant correlations between foraminal stenosis grade
(odds ratio [OR], –0.425, P = 0.038) and spinal herniation level (OR, –0.925, P = 0.001) and
treatment success.
Limitations: Our study’s design was retrospective.
Conclusions: Cervical ILESI is a reliable treatment option that provides a significant reduction
in pain of patients with cervical radiculopathy. However, the success of ILESI treatment may be
negatively affected in these patients in the presence of high spinal level cervical disc herniation
and severe foraminal stenosis. Therefore considering these 2 parameters in predicting the patient
population who will benefit from cervical ILESI is of importance in terms of decreasing potential
complications.
Key words: Interlaminar epidural steroid injections, foraminal stenosis, spinal level, cervical disc
herniation, radicular pain