CEACCP: Epidural Steroids (Read) for Nurses

Permission has been granted by Elsevier on behalf of the British Journal of Anaesthesia to link directly to articles and MCQs from BJA Education on e-Learning Anaesthesia.

Key points

• Epidural steroids are used in the treatment of radicular and other spinal pain of an inflammatory origin emanating from the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine.
• The use of epidural administration of steroids is to produce higher local concentrations at an inflamed nerve root and other areas of inflammation in the spinal canal area.
• The three most common methods are via the caudal route, the interlaminar approach, and the transforaminal approach.
• Different steroid preparations have dissimilar physicochemical properties and these may affect outcomes and side-effects.
• There is an ongoing debate with regard to the use of particulate and non-particulate steroids for transforaminal epidural injections for chronic pain patients.