Abstract

Use of minimally invasive procedures has increased over the years. Use of fluoroscopy for diagnostic purpose before a procedure has not been well defined to increase the accuracy of the injections. Objective was to retrospectively evaluate the effectiveness of combining pre-procedure clinical evaluation with fluoroscopic evaluation with diagnostic cervical facet joint injection. Retrospective observational study of 15 neck pain patients of cervical facet joint injection after pre-procedure clinical evaluation and fluoroscopic evaluation. Assessment was: percentage pain relief. Successful pain relief was defined as ≥ 50% reduction in pain. The mean age of the entire group was 50.3 (43–58) years. The mean BMI was 29.34 (24.69-37.66). There were total of 18 injections performed on 15 patients (two were bilateral and one was 2 level). Sixteen of the 18 tender areas were at the facet joint under fluoroscopy evaluation and 2 were posterior to the facet joint. The cervical facet joints, which were injected were C2–3 (5-including one two levels and one bilateral), C3–4 (6-including two levels), C4–5 (6-including one bilateral) and C5–6 (1). The percentages of patients experiencing successful pain relief were 82.3% (14/17 injections-one patient had two level injection) including 5 who had 100% relief after the diagnostic injection. This small trial demonstrates the overall clinical success of diagnostic cervical facet joint injection when combined with pre-procedure clinical evaluation and fluoroscopy evaluation. Further research with a larger trial is needed to evaluate the efficacy of this procedure.

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