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A blunt needle (Epimed(®)) does not eliminate the risk of vascular penetration during transforaminal epidural injection
BACKGROUND: Transforaminal epidural injection of local anesthetics and corticosteroids is a common practice in patients with radicular pain. However, serious morbidity has also been reported, which can be attributed to an arterial or venous injection of the medication especially particulate glucocor...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd
2013
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3841942/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24340239 http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/2152-7806.120784 |
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author | Ilkhchoui, Yashar Koshkin, Eugene |
author_facet | Ilkhchoui, Yashar Koshkin, Eugene |
author_sort | Ilkhchoui, Yashar |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Transforaminal epidural injection of local anesthetics and corticosteroids is a common practice in patients with radicular pain. However, serious morbidity has also been reported, which can be attributed to an arterial or venous injection of the medication especially particulate glucocorticoid preparations. Using a blunt needle in contrast to sharp needle has been suggested to reduce this risk in a study on animals. CASE DESCRIPTION: We present a 59-year-old female with L5 lumbar radicular symptoms and left L5-S1 foraminal narrowing who underwent transforaminal epidural injection with fluoroscopic guidance using a 22-gauge blunt curved needle (Epimed(®), Johnstown, NY). Intravascular needle placement was detected during real-time contrast injection under live fluoroscopy after a negative aspiration and local anesthetic test dose. The needle was slightly withdrawn and correct distribution of the contrast was confirmed along the target nerve root and into the epidural space. CONCLUSION: This case report discusses vascular penetration utilizing an Epimed(®) blunt needle to perform transforaminal injections in a clinical setting. This topic was previously discussed in earlier animal studies. We also reemphasize that neither negative aspiration or local anesthetic test doses are reliable techniques to ensure the safety of transforaminal epidural injections. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3841942 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2013 |
publisher | Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-38419422013-12-11 A blunt needle (Epimed(®)) does not eliminate the risk of vascular penetration during transforaminal epidural injection Ilkhchoui, Yashar Koshkin, Eugene Surg Neurol Int Surgical Neurology International: Spine BACKGROUND: Transforaminal epidural injection of local anesthetics and corticosteroids is a common practice in patients with radicular pain. However, serious morbidity has also been reported, which can be attributed to an arterial or venous injection of the medication especially particulate glucocorticoid preparations. Using a blunt needle in contrast to sharp needle has been suggested to reduce this risk in a study on animals. CASE DESCRIPTION: We present a 59-year-old female with L5 lumbar radicular symptoms and left L5-S1 foraminal narrowing who underwent transforaminal epidural injection with fluoroscopic guidance using a 22-gauge blunt curved needle (Epimed(®), Johnstown, NY). Intravascular needle placement was detected during real-time contrast injection under live fluoroscopy after a negative aspiration and local anesthetic test dose. The needle was slightly withdrawn and correct distribution of the contrast was confirmed along the target nerve root and into the epidural space. CONCLUSION: This case report discusses vascular penetration utilizing an Epimed(®) blunt needle to perform transforaminal injections in a clinical setting. This topic was previously discussed in earlier animal studies. We also reemphasize that neither negative aspiration or local anesthetic test doses are reliable techniques to ensure the safety of transforaminal epidural injections. Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd 2013-10-29 /pmc/articles/PMC3841942/ /pubmed/24340239 http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/2152-7806.120784 Text en Copyright: © 2013 Ilkhchoui Y. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Surgical Neurology International: Spine Ilkhchoui, Yashar Koshkin, Eugene A blunt needle (Epimed(®)) does not eliminate the risk of vascular penetration during transforaminal epidural injection |
title | A blunt needle (Epimed(®)) does not eliminate the risk of vascular penetration during transforaminal epidural injection |
title_full | A blunt needle (Epimed(®)) does not eliminate the risk of vascular penetration during transforaminal epidural injection |
title_fullStr | A blunt needle (Epimed(®)) does not eliminate the risk of vascular penetration during transforaminal epidural injection |
title_full_unstemmed | A blunt needle (Epimed(®)) does not eliminate the risk of vascular penetration during transforaminal epidural injection |
title_short | A blunt needle (Epimed(®)) does not eliminate the risk of vascular penetration during transforaminal epidural injection |
title_sort | blunt needle (epimed(®)) does not eliminate the risk of vascular penetration during transforaminal epidural injection |
topic | Surgical Neurology International: Spine |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3841942/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24340239 http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/2152-7806.120784 |
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