• Marco Lechmann, Cynthia K Peterson, Christian W A Pfirrmann, and Jürg Hodler.
• Department of Radiology, Orthopaedic University Hospital of Balgrist, Forchstrasse 340, 8008 Zurich, Switzerland. marco.lechmann@gmx.ch
• Skeletal Radiol. 2013 Oct 1;42(10):1429-35.

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study is to investigate if relying on postal questionnaires returned by patients provides an accurate representation of reported outcomes from patients receiving imaging-guided lumbar nerve root injections (NRIs).Materials And MethodsPatients who received imaging-guided transforaminal lumbar NRIs were given short questionnaires inquiring about pain level [numerical rating scale (NRS)] and overall improvement [Patient's Global Impression of Change (PGIC)]. Those who did not return the questionnaires (non-responders) were telephoned and asked about pain level and overall change in condition. Age and gender matching of responders and non-responders resulted in 97 patients in each group. The proportion of patients reporting clinically relevant "improvement" or "worsening" in each group was calculated and the Chi-square test was used to detect differences. NRS and PGIC scores for responders and non-responders were compared using Student's t test and the Mann-Whitney U test, respectively.ResultsA higher proportion of non-responders reported clinically relevant improvement (53.6 %) compared to responders (42.6 %) and responders reported significantly higher levels of worsening of condition (p = 0.01). Both responders and non-responders had significant (p ≤ 0.05) improvement on the 20-30-min and 1-month NRS scores compared to their pre-injection baseline scores. Non-responders had significantly higher baseline NRS scores but no significant difference at the 20-30-min and 1-month NRS scores compared to responders.ConclusionsPatients returning postal questionnaires reported less favorable outcomes compared to those who did not return their questionnaires.

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