腰椎椎間板ヘルニアに対する選択的神経根ブロックと持続硬膜外ブロックの治療効果の比較

抄録

In this study we analyzed 70 patients with lumbar disc herniation treated by blocks since 1996. Fifty-one patients were treated by selective nerve root blocks and 19 were treated by continuous lumbar epidural blocks. The purpose of this paper is to compare the efficacy of the selective nerve root block and continuous epidural block. The functional results were evaluated on the basis of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score, subjective symptoms: 9 points. We assessed the block effectiveness when the JOA score improved by more than 2 points after the blocks. It was effective in 31 patients (60.8%) for selective nerve root blocks and 8 patients (42.1%) for continuous epidural blocks. Selective nerve root block is considered to be superior to continuous epidural block. Selective nerve root block showed better results especially for patients with negative SLR test. The herniated mass was protrusion type and space-occupying ratio was less than 30%.