2003 Volume 9 Issue 1 Pages 89-94
The first aim of this study was to clarify the significance of “block therapies” in patients with lumbar disc herniation. The second aim was to assess the clinical effectiveness of nerve root infiltration with steroids for lumbar monoradiculopathy in patients with lumbar disc herniation. The data demonstrated that “block therapies” were significantly more effective than non-block therapy at six months follow-up. However, the difference in the outcome between two groups was not significant at 2 years follow-up. There was no difference in pain intensity and functional status between patients in either the steroid or the non-steroid group. These data suggest that steroids might be less important for nerve root infiltrations in patients presenting with lumbar disc herniations.