RESUMO
BACGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of caudal epidural steroid injection with local anesthetic for chronic lower back pain patients. METHODS: The 152 patients with lower back pain were selected for the study. The patients were treated with the caudal injections of steroid (triamcinolone acetate 40 mg) and local anesthetics (1% lidocaine 17 ml). The efficacy of caudal injections was assessed with the visual analogue scale (VAS) before procedure and at 8 weeks following procedure. RESULTS: The VAS scores of 'Before procedure' group and '8 weeks after procedure' group were 62 23 and 31 15, respectively. The caudal steroid injections provided effectiveness in treating various lower back pain diseases except postlaminectomy syndrome. CONCLUSION: We consider that caudal epidural injections of steroid and local anesthetics are effective for patients with chronic lower back pain in the short term.