There is a lack of standardized practices for administration of an epidural steroid injection for back pain, as per a report from researchers from University of California at San Diego that was presented at the American Academy of Pain Medicine’s 25th Annual Meeting.

Factors such as: which steroids were administered, whether or not a local anesthetic was mixed with the steroid, and the amount of steroid used, were considered during the research.

From News-Medical.Net:

“Epidural steroid injections are an important and common option for the treatment of back pain. However, we found that a great variety of techniques are being used. There is no gold standard,” said Dr. Patel, lead author of the study and resident at the University of California at San Diego. “Guidelines may need to be explored with regard to this procedure to increase the effectiveness and decrease risk when using this approach to treat pain.”

Dr. Patel’s study found there were differences from institution to institution regarding which steroid was preferred for these injections. The most common steroids identified for this procedure and respective dose ranges were: depomedrol (dose range 40-120 mg), celestone (dose range 6-15 mg), decadron (dose range 4-12 mg), and kenalog (dose range 10-80 mg).

It was remarked by Yogesh Patel, MD, and his colleagues at UCSD, that these variations in techniques can prove effective for lending an insight as to how and why some patients can experience better results from ESI (epidural steroid injection) than others and said that this fact needs to be explored in the near future.