Definition
Spinal injections of local anesthetic agents are used (Boas 1991) as an aid to diagnosis, as prognostic tests for ablative procedures, and (Mooney 1991) as therapy. They may be administered within, or adjacent to, the spinal column.
Characteristics
Temporary nerve blocks using local anesthetic are often employed in the diagnostic evaluation of spinal pain syndromes – for example, in establishing lumbar radiculopathy (Boas 1991; Bonica and Buckley 1990; Mooney 1991; Steindler and Luck 1938) or lumbar facet disease (Carette et al. 1991; North et al. 1994; Schwarzer et al. 1994) as a cause of low back and sciatic pain. Temporary relief of pain by reversible local anesthetic blocks, however, does not reliably predict the long-term results of permanent ablative or anatomic procedures.
The spinal nerves arise from anterior (motor) and posterior (sensory) rootlets shortly after they exit the spinal...
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References
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North, R.B. (2013). Pain Treatment: Spinal Nerve Blocks. In: Gebhart, G.F., Schmidt, R.F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Pain. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28753-4_3156
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28753-4_3156
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