Skip to content

The Impact of Epidural Steroid Analgesia on Functional MRI for Patients With LBP

CompletedNCT01913782
View the official record on ClinicalTrials.gov

Recruiting status changes often. Contact the study team listed on ClinicalTrials.gov, and talk to your doctor before joining a study.

This study has no listed site in Canada in this snapshot. It is included as part of the worldwide chronic pain corpus.

Brief summary (from the registry)

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is the most prevalent form of chronic pain, and the most common reason for disability in working-age population \[2\]. CLBP has also been reported associated with many abnormal brain anatomy and function which includes the reduction in cortical gray matter in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), thalamus, brain stem, primary somatosensory cortex, and posterior parietal cortex. \[3-5\] There are already many studies that demonstrated abnormal cortical function for people with CLBP \[6-10\]. Meanwhile, DLPFC was also reported to be influenced by many pain process which included pain modulation \[11-13\], placebo analgesia \[14, 15\], pain control \[16, 17\]or pain catastrophizing\[18\]. And recent report has showed that effective treatment of chronic back pain patients reverses abnormal DLPFC function\[19\]. Meanwhile, epidural steroid injection has been performed in clinical for routinely managed for low back pain patients. Patients refused or have no indication for surgery or have little response to rehabilitation may consider this management. There was good evidence for short- and long-term relief of chronic pain secondary to disc herniation with local anesthetic and steroids\[20, 21\]. However, the impact of this treatment on functionalMRI (fMRI) has never been investigated. The investigators research will try to solve this issue. This study will provide a good relationship for the pain fMRI image in brain after local lumbar spine management. And the investigators also want to perform the first data that showed local lumbar analgesia have the impact on brain image change.

Study details

Official title
The Impact of Epidural Steroid Analgesia on Functional MRI for Patients With Low Back Pain
Sponsor
National Cheng-Kung University Hospital
Start date
2012-10
Primary completion
2018-04
Sex
All
Age range
from 18 Years
Healthy volunteers
true
Results posted
No results posted in this snapshot
Countries
Taiwan
Total sites listed
1

Eligibility criteria

Show eligibility criteria (verbatim from the registry)
Inclusion Criteria: 1. Patients with disc herniation or radiculitis who are over 18 years of age. 2. Patients with a history of chronic function-limiting low back pain and lower extremity pain for at least one months' duration. 3. Patients who are competent to understand the study and provide written informed consent and participate in outcome measurements. Exclusion Criteria: * Patients have previous lumbar surgery with metal instrument. Initial MRI shows spinal stenosis or without disc herniation. Patients have unstable opioid use, uncontrolled psychiatric disorders, uncontrolled acute medical illness, any condition that could interfere with the interpretation of outcome assessments, pregnant or lactating women or allergy to local anesthetics or steroid. Patients who are unable to perform MRI or fMRI will also be excluded.

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov (US National Library of Medicine), snapshot October 2026. Check the registry for current recruiting status. Record: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT01913782