CLINICAL CLASSIFICATION AS A PREDICTOR OF THERAPEUTIC OUTCOME AFTER CERVICAL EPIDURAL STEROID INJECTION

A retrospeCtive analysis was done on 100 patients who had received cer vical epidural steroid injections for neck pain and cervical radiculop athy to identify the predictors of outcome after such treatment. Poten tial predictors of outcome were assessed individually and then simulta neously with a multiple-regression model. Patients with radicular symp toms and signs had the best pain relief in contradistinction to those with axial (neck) pain. A clinical classification model predicting the outcome and an algorithm for the use of such injections in the treatm ent of cervical radiculopathy were developed.