title: Efficacy of Epidural Perineural Injection of Autologous Conditioned Serum in Unilateral Cervical Radiculopathy: A Pilot Study.
abstract: METHODS
  Prospective randomized pilot study.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Evaluation of the efficacy of epidural perineural injection of autologous conditioned serum (ACS) versus methylprednisone (MPS) in unilateral cervical radiculopathy patients.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Cervical radiculopathy is often treated by nonoperative and operative means. Guided injections of steroids have been used previously. We used ACS, an orthobiologic derived from patients' own blood in patients of unilateral cervical radiculopathy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty patients were equally allocated into ACS and MPS groups and were injected with 2.5 to 3 mL of ACS or MPS, respectively, under image guidance into the perineural area of the affected nerve root. They were followed up for 6 months with visual analogue scale for pain, neck pain disability scale in Hindi language, neck disability index, and Short Form of Health Survey-12 (SF-12).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients who had received injections of ACS and MPS both had improvements in the scores of the evaluation tools. The improvement in the ACS patients was gradual and sustained during the entire study period whereas that in the MPS group had some deterioration over time. No major complications were noted among the 2 groups. Minor complications were noted in both the groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ACS can be considered an equally good or better modality of nonoperative management in patients of unilateral cervical radiculopathy as MPS. The safety profile is good and the improvement seen is sustained over time. Thus, it may be offered to affected patients before offering them surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  2.
authors.affiliation: *Departments of Orthopedics and †Anesthesiology, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Vijay G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Goni
authors.forename: Sampat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singh Jhala
authors.forename: Nirmal Raj
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Gopinathan
authors.forename: Prateek
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Behera
authors.forename: Y K
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Batra
authors.forename: Arjun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: R H H
authors.forename: Uday
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Guled
authors.forename: Harsha
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Vardhan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007268:Injections, Epidural / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D008775:Methylprednisolone / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D008875:Middle Aged; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000209:etiology; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011843:Radiculopathy / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D044967:Serum; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D008775:Methylprednisolone