• Jochen Obernauer, Klaus Galiano, Hannes Gruber, Reto Bale, Alois Albert Obwegeser, Reinhold Schatzer, and Alexander Loizides.
• Innsbruck Medical University, Department of Neurosurgery, Anichstrasse 35, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria. jochen.obernauer@i-med.ac.at
• Med Ultrason. 2013 Mar 1;15(1):10-5.

ObjectivesA prospective randomized clinical trial was conducted to evaluate accuracy, time-saving, radiation doses and pain relief of ultrasound-guided (US) facet joint injections versus Computed Tomography (CT)-controlled interventions in the cervical spine.Material And MethodsForty adult patients were consecutively enrolled and randomly assigned to the US- or CT group. US-guided facet joint injections were performed on a standard ultrasound device using a broadband linear-array transducer. The corresponding comparison group underwent CT-guided instillations which were performed under standardized procedures using the CT-positioning laser function.ResultsThe accuracy of ultrasound-guided interventions was 100%. The mean time (min:sec) to final needle placement in the US group was 04:46 versus 11:12 (p<0.05) in the CT group for one injected level, and 05:49 in the US group versus 14:32 (p<0.05) in the CT group for two injected levels. The mean dose-length product (DLP, mGy*cm) radiation dose, including CT confirmation for study purposes only, was 27.6 for the US group versus 88.2 in the CT group (p<0.05) for one injected level, and 32.5 in the US group versus 205.0 in the CT group (p<0.05) for two injected levels. Both groups showed the same significant visual-analog-scale (VAS) relief in pain (p<0.05), without any "inter-methodic" differences (p>0.05).ConclusionsUS-guided intra-articular injections show the same therapeutic effect as CT-guided intra-articular injections and result in a significant reduction of procedure duration without any exposure to radiation.

32 keywords...

hide…