title: Effect of transforaminal anterior epidural steroid injection on neuropathic pain, quality of sleep and life.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Transforaminal anterior steroid injections are frequently used for low back pain. In the current study, It was aimed to investigate the effects of transforaminal anterior epidural steroid injection (TAESI) in patients with low back pain in regards to quality of life and sleep, and neuropathic pain.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ethics committee approval and patient consent were obtained. Patients with low back pain scheduled to receive transforaminal epidural steroid injections between October 2011 and October 2012 were included into the study. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Short form 12 (SF 12), DN4 tests and Visual Analog Scale Score (VAS) were measured prior to procedure and three months later. All the tests were compared with baseline evaluations prior to injections.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and two (female/male: 52/50) patients with a mean age of 53.3 ± 1.4 were included. Primary diagnoses were lumbar disc herniation in eighty-seven patients, spinal stenosis in seven and failed back surgery syndrome in eight patients. Statistically significant improvement was seen in the total VAS, DN4 and PSQI scores (p=0.0001) of the patients at the third month follow-up. Sleep duration (p=0.0001), habitual sleep efficiency (p=0.0001), subjective sleep quality (p=0.003), sleep latency (p=0.014), sleep disturbances (p<0.001), sleep medication use (p=0.003), and day time dysfunction (p=0.015) showed a significant decrease in sub-components. There was no significant difference in SF 12 quality of life.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It was determined in the study that transforaminal epidural steroid injection provided a substantial improvement in patients' pain and neuropathic pain and quality of sleep, but had no effect on the quality of life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation, Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Medicine, Aydın, Turkey. sarisinem@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Sinem
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sarı
authors.affiliation: Department of Algology, Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Medicine, Aydın, Turkey.
authors.forename: Osman Nuri
authors.initials: ON
authors.lastname: Aydın
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation, Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Medicine, Aydın, Turkey.
authors.forename: Gülsüm
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Güleser
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistic, Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Medicine, Aydın, Turkey.
authors.forename: İmran
authors.initials: İ
authors.lastname: Kurt
authors.affiliation: Department of Outcomes Research, Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: Alparslan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Turan
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007268:Injections, Epidural; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011788:Quality of Life; D012890:Sleep; D013256:Steroids / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D013256:Steroids