Cervical Epidural Steroid Injection: Techniques and Evidence

Abstract

Cervical epidural steroid injections are a common treatment of cervical radicular pain. Important safety considerations include attention to the possibility of spinal cord infarction and spinal epidural hematoma. When appropriate, radiographic, technical, and pharmacologic principals are used, these procedures are relatively safe. Cervical epidural steroid injections are effective for the short-term treatment of radicular pain. More rigorously designed clinical outcomes studies of both cervical interlaminar and transforaminal epidural steroid injections are needed.

Keywords: Epidural; Evidence-based medicine; Injections; Neck pain.