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Objective: To compare parasagittal interlaminar cervical epidural steroid injection (PSIL-CESI) and the classic midline interlaminar cervical epidural steroid injection (MIL-CESI) in terms of pain relief and functional improvement in patients with unilateral upper extremity radicular pain. Methods: This was a randomized clinical trial being conducted in a single pain center in Tehran. Twenty-six patients were allocated into two groups of 13, undergoing either PSIL-CESI or MIL-CESI. After confirmation of radiocontrast spread in the epidural space by fluoroscopic guidance, dexamethasone 8 mg and bupivacaine 0.125% in a volume of 5 ml were delivered to the epidural space. Evaluation of functional state and pain intensity before and 1 month after the procedure was accomplished using the neck disability index (NDI) and the numeric rating scale (NRS) respectively. Results: Demographic and baseline characteristics of the cases showed no significant statistical difference. Improvements in the NDI and the NRS were observed in both groups; meanwhile, improvements were more pronounced in the PSIL-CESI group as compared to the MIL-CESI group (P<0.001). With the PSIL approach the ventral spread of radiocontrast was significantly higher (38%) than with the MIL approach (0.7%) (P<0.001). All patients in PSIL group showed radiocontrast spread ipsilateral to the painful side and all patients in the MIL group showed a midline distribution of radiocontrast. Conclusion: PSIL-CESI provides superior pain relief and improvement of functional disability in patients with unilateral upper extremity radicular pain in comparison to the classic MIL-CESI. Clinical trial registry: IRCT20180524039816N1

Background:The current randomized double-blind clinical trial aimed to compare the incidence of post-operative cough with intravenous vs. topical lidocaine in children with mild upper respiratory infection (URI) anesthetized with laryngeal mask airway (LMA) in the university-affiliated medical center.Objectives:To assess the incidence of adverse respiratory event including cough, apnea, laryngospasm, bronchospasm following two different methods of lidocaine administration in anesthetized children with mild URI.Patients and methods:One hundred and thirty pediatric patients with mild URI (within the previous two weeks) aged between one and six years were enrolled. They were candidates to undergo immediate full ophthalmic examination, and randomly divided into two groups of 65to receive intravenous (1.5 mg/kg) or topical lidocaine on LMA. Anesthesia was induced with sevoflurane, subsequently LMA was inserted when the patient was in deep anesthesia status and maintained on (50% N2O, 50% O2) and 3% sevoflurane. Spontaneous ventilation was maintained throughout the procedure and LMA was removed in deep anesthesia. Outcomes (cough, laryngospasm, bronchospasm and vomiting) were evaluated peri-operatively and one day post-operation.Results:One hundred and twenty four patients fulfilled the trial. Cough (primary outcome) was significantly more frequent among those with topical compared with intravenous lidocaine (46% vs. 26%; P = 0.004). The incidence of laryngospasm (32% vs. 27%), bronchospasm (18% vs. 12%), desaturation (18% vs. 12%) and vomiting (5% vs. 2%) was not statistically different between the groups.Conclusions:The pediatric patients undergoing general anesthesia with LMA with intravenous lidocaine experienced fewer incidence of postoperative cough compared to the ones in the topical lidocaine group.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of transforaminal lumbar epidural steroid injections (TFESI) in patients with unilateral radiculopathy due to lumbar intervertebral disc protrusion regarding pain intensity, functional disability, current opioid intake and patients’ satisfaction. Methods: The study is conducted in a pain management center (Tehran, Iran), during 2018. Inclusion criteria were age ≥18 years, radiculopathy for more than 6 months due to imagine-proved lumbar intervertebral disc protrusion and no response to conservative treatments. Exclusion criteria were spinal canal stenosis, lumbar surgery, and inability to communicate in Persian language. During a phone call interview, cases were instructed to rate their pain intensity according to the visual analogue scale (VAS), functional ability, satisfaction according to the patient satisfaction score (PSQ) and report current opioid use and additional injection and/or surgery. Results: Forty-three (89.5%) of the 48 subjects were reachable for study with mean age of 59.14 years and 16 subjects were men (37.2 %). Mean VAS after intervention was 4.67 and before the intervention was 6.91 ( p =0.002). Mean functional disability before intervention was 47.23 and after intervention was 37 ( p <0.001). Mean patient satisfaction score was 3.07 while 18 cases reported a PSQ level ≥4.  10 cases reported using opioid for analgesia, 23 cases reported receiving additional TFESIs and 11 reported having undergone lumbar surgery. Conclusion: Lumbar Epidural steroid injection is an effective non-surgical treatment option with regard to pain relief and improvement in functional ability with an average patients’ satisfaction during 2 years follow up although nearly 25% of patients may need additional injections and half of the patients may finally proceed to surgery.

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