ABSTRACT

Epiduroscopy could be an option as a final step of pain management for FBSS before palliative procedures, such as spinal cord stimulation or intrathecal drug delivery.

Mean pre- and post-procedure VAS scores at 1^st, 3^rd, 6^th, and 12^th months were 8.44±0.71 (7.24-9.64), 4.67±2.13 (2.45-9.50), 4.34±1.26 (2.12-6.87), 4.28±1.73 (2.65-7.12), 4.68±1.09 (2.53-6.15), respectively. The changes in pre-procedure and post-procedure VAS scores through follow-ups were statistically significant (p<0.001). Post-hoc tests (Wilcoxon signed-ranks test) revealed that the pre-procedure VAS levels were significantly higher than the post-procedure VAS scores. The changes in VAS scores at 1^st, 3^rd, 6^th, and 12^th months when compared to the pre-procedure VAS scores were 45.7%, 48.3%, 43.6%, and 44.2%, respectively.

We inspected 19 patients who are diagnosed as FBSS and 2 patients who were operated for disc herniation that had recurrent discopathy. Data was collected retrospectively from patient’s files. Each patient underwent a standard physical examination and was asked to complete a 100-mm visual analogue scale (VAS) questionnaire before epiduroscopy and 1^st, 3^rd, 6^th and 12^th months after epiduroscopy.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate the pain relief ratio of epiduroscopy on patients with failed back surgery syndrome.