• AJNR Am J Neuroradiol · May 2005

    Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study

    Intraforaminal O(2)-O(3) versus periradicular steroidal infiltrations in lower back pain: randomized controlled study.

    • Matteo Bonetti, Alessandro Fontana, Biagio Cotticelli, Giorgio Dalla Volta, Massimiliano Guindani, and Marco Leonardi.
    • Department of Neuroradiology and Division of Neurology, Istituto Clinico Città di Brescia, Italy.
    • AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2005 May 1;26(5):996-1000.

    Background And PurposeReports about steroids and oxygen-ozone therapy to treat lower back pain have been increasing. The purpose of our study was to compare the clinical outcomes in patients treated with infiltrations of O(2)-O(3) gas or steroids at short-, medium-, and long-term follow-up.MethodsA total of 306 patients (166 with primarily disk disease, 140 with nondisk vertebral disease) with acute or chronic low back and sciatic nerve pain received a CT-guided intraforaminal infiltration of an O(2)-O(3) gas mixture or an periradicular infiltration of steroids. Neurologists unaware of the type of treatment assessed the patients.ResultsAt 1-week follow-up, most patients had a complete remission of pain, regardless of the treatment. At 6-month follow-up, differences in favor of O(2)-O(3) treatment were significant in patients with disk disease (P = .0021) but not in those without disk disease (P = .0992). Clinical outcomes were poor in 13 (15.1%) of 86 patients receiving O(2)-O(3) infiltration and in 18 (22.5%) of 80 patients receiving steroid injection (P = .2226). Among patients without disk disease, six (8.6%) of 70 patients receiving O(2)-O(3) infiltration but 21.4% of the patients receiving steroid injections had poor outcomes (P = .0332).ConclusionOxygen-ozone treatment was highly effective in relieving acute and chronic lower back pain and sciatica. The gas mixture can be administered as a first treatment to replace epidural steroids.

      Pubmed     Free full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        

    hide…

Want more great medical articles?

Keep up to date with a free trial of metajournal, personalized for your practice.
1,704,841 articles already indexed!

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.