Abstracts & Literature Review 4

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Complications of Transforaminal Cervical Epidural Steroid Injections

Malhotra, Gautam MD; Abbasi, Arjang DO; Rhee, Michael MD SPINE Volume 34, Number 7, pp 731–739 ©2009, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

JACO Editorial Reviewer: Robert S. Francis, D.C.

Published: September, 2009
Journal of the Academy of Chiropractic Orthopedists
September 2009, Volume 6, Issue 3
Received: 1 August 2009
Accepted: 15 August 2009

The original article copyright belongs to the original publisher. This review is available from: http://www.dcorthoacademy.com © 2009 Francis and the Academy of Chiropractic Orthopedists. This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

JACO Editorial Summary

• This is a comprehensive review article which reviews and critically evaluates the existing literature focusing on incidence and clinical presentation of complications and techniques associated with transforaminal cervical epidural steroid injection (TFCESI).
• This review is designed to guide the direction of future research and improve clinical care by elucidating complications and outlining measures that may be undertaken to increase patient safety.
• TFCESI is a component in the diagnosis and management of cervical radicular syndromes reserved for patients who have failed conservative management.
• Catastrophic complications of TFCESI are rare but include serious neurologic sequelae such as brain and spinal cord infarction due to embolic phenomenon of particulate steroids.