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Prospective Observation of the Fluoroscopy-guided Cervical Epidural Approach Using the Contralateral Oblique View

The Safety and Clinical Utilities of the Fluoroscopy-guided Cervical Epidural Approach Using the Contralateral Oblique View: a Prospective Observational Study

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT04774458
Enrollment
439
Registered
2021-03-01
Start date
2021-03-04
Completion date
2022-08-31
Last updated
2022-09-07

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Cervical Intervertebral Disc Disease, Cervical Radicular Pain, Cervical Spinal Stenosis, Herpes Zoster, Postherpetic Neuralgia

Keywords

fluoroscopy, contralateral oblique view, cervical epidural block, cervical epidural space

Brief summary

The aim of the present study is to investigate the safety and clinical utility of contralateral oblique view for fluoroscopic guided cervical epidural access.

Detailed description

A cervical epidural block is a widely used intervention to reduce pain in patients with cervicalgia or cervical radicular pain. To achieve a successful procedure, accurate access to the cervical epidural space is needed. However, careful attention is required for this cervical epidural procedure due to a possibility of serious complications such as spinal cord infarction and quadriplegia due to blood vessel damage, convulsion due to an intravascular drug administration, cerebral infarction due to vascular embolism, subdural or subarachnoid injection, hematoma, and spinal cord injury. Although the use of fluoroscopy improves the safety and accuracy of cervical epidural access, this technique still has significant drawbacks, such as false loss of resistance and difficulty in assessing the depth of the needle tip in lateral views in relation to the epidural space. To overcome this issue, cervical epidural access using the contralateral oblique (CLO) view has been introduced and the ideal angle of CLO view for the cervical spine is reported as 50 degrees. However, it has not been reported on the safety and clinical utility of using the CLO view during cervical epidural access. Therefore, the investigators planned this study to observe the safety and clinical utility of the CLO view at 50 degrees for the cervical epidural block.

Interventions

PROCEDUREFluoroscopic-guided cervical epidural access

After identifying the target level of the cervical spine under a fluoroscopy-guided anteroposterior image, an 18-Tuohy needle is inserted through a paramedian approach after local infiltration with 1% lidocaine. When feeling a strong resistance through the needle by a ligamentum flavum, the image intensifier is rotated to 50 degrees contralateral oblique (CLO) direction. After then, the needle is advanced to just before the ventral interlaminar line in CLO view. It is subsequently advanced further until it is in the epidural space using a LOR-to-air technique. Correct epidural access is confirmed by the injection of contrast medium. After identifying epidural space in AP and CLO view without abnormal dispersion of contrast,(vascular uptake, intrathecal spreads, etc.), a 3-4ml mixture of 0.5% lidocaine with dexamethasone 5mg is injected.

Sponsors

Asan Medical Center
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
20 Years to 79 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Patients who need an epidural space access at C6-7 or C7-T1 level * Patients who are expected to undergo cervical epidural block * Patients who are expected to undergo cervical epidural neuroplasty * 20 ≤ age \<80 * When obtaining informed consent voluntarily

Exclusion criteria

* Allergy to local anesthetics and contrast dye, and steroid * Use of anticoagulants or antiplatelet medication, coagulopathy * Infection at the insertion site * Neurological or psychiatric disorders * Prior spine instrumentation * Pregnancy * Not visible epidural space due to severe cervical spinal canal stenosis

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Dural puncture event - major complicationImmediately after contrast medium administration during the procedurewhether a dural puncture event occurs or not during the cervical epidural access

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Needling timeImmediately after proceduretime to access the epidural space after skin insertion
First attempt successImmediately after procedurewhether an cervical epidural access is successful at once without any withdrawal of the needle or not
Total number of needle passesImmediately after procedureA needle pass is considered as an advancement of the needle without any withdrawal. If the needle is re-advanced after a withdrawal, it is considered as an additional(second) needle pass.
Rate of success or failureImmediately after procedureSuccess is defined when contrast medium spreads appropriately in epidural space after physician successfully access cervical epidural space.
Needle tip visualizationOne day after the procedureThe clarity of the needle tip was subjectively graded as 1 (clearly visualized without ambiguity), 2 (poorly visualized or visualized with effort), or 3 (not visualized).
Other complicationsImmediately after procedureintravascular entry, subdural entry, vasovagal reaction, spinal cord injury
False positive/negative loss of resistanceImmediately after procedureFalse positive: Not reaching epidural space despite feeling loss of resistance/ false negative: Reaching epidural space despite not feeling loss of resistance
Post-procedural complicationUp to one month after the procedureepidural hematoma, spinal cord injury, infection, abscess, facial flushing, post-dural puncture headache
Radiation dose (cGy)Immediately after procedureRadiation dose (cGy)
Numerical rating scales (NRS)One month after the procedureOne month after the procedure, the pain intensity is assessed using a numeric rating scale (0: no pain, 10: unbearable pain).
Global perceived effect (GPE)One month after the procedureOne month after the procedure, Patient satisfaction is assessed using global perceived effects on a 7-point scale (GPE). (1: very dissatisfied, 7: very satisfied)
Needle tips locationOne day after the procedureLocation of the needle tip was defined as being significantly before the VILL(Ventral interlaminar line) (-2), just before the VILL (-1), on the VILL (0), just after the VILL (+1), or significantly after the VILL (+2)

Countries

South Korea

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 9, 2026