Efficacy of Steroid Facet Joint Injections for Axial Spinal Pain and Post Radiofrequency Ablation Neuritis: A Systematic Review.

Purpose of review: Chronic axial spinal pain is a leading cause of disability and healthcare spending in the United States. A common source of axial spinal pain is the facet joint. Current treatments for facet joint-mediated pain include conservative treatments and interventions such as intra-articular facet joint injections (FJI), medial branch blocks (MBB), and radiofrequency ablation (RFA). While facet joint interventions are one of the most common spinal procedures, current scientific literature demonstrates conflicting results regarding the use of corticosteroids in these interventions.

Recent findings: A systematic review was conducted to determine the efficacy of local corticosteroid usage in facet joint interventions for treating chronic axial spinal pain. Separate literature searches were performed using PubMed, Google Scholar, Embase, and Cochrane Library to evaluate the use of local corticosteroids in intra-articular FJI, MBB, and for the prevention of post-neurotomy neuritis (PNN). Inclusion criteria included a randomized clinical trial (RCT) or control trial while unique inclusion criteria was used for the differing uses of local corticosteroids. The exclusion criteria for studies included (i) studies written in a non-English language; (ii) articles without full-text access or abstract-only papers; (iii) and studies focused on non-human subjects. Final literature searches were conducted in August 2024. Two studies with 131 patients, four studies with 440 patients, and two studies with 203 patients were selected for the assessment of local corticosteroid use on intra-articular FJI, MBB, and PNN, respectively. A quality assessment tool recommended by The Cochrane Collaboration was used to assess bias risk in included studies. Results were synthesized through a meta-analysis to evaluate intra-articular FJI while a literature analysis was completed to investigate MBB and PNN. This study found that the use of corticosteroid intra-articular FJI and MBB provides significant improvement in pain relief and functionality from baseline for the treatment of lower back pain and chronic axial spinal pain, respectively. However, the use of corticosteroids post-RFA has not been proven to reduce the occurrence of PNN. Limitations to the studies used included blinding bias, absence of placebo groups, subjective inclusion criteria, limited generalizability and small sample sizes.