SynthesisPain medicine (Malden, Mass.)2024
The effectiveness of intradiscal corticosteroid injection for the treatment of chronic discovertebral low back pain: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.), 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- Transforaminal intradiscal steroid injection versus transforaminal epidural steroid injection for chronic discogenic low back pain with active discopathy: a randomized controlled trial protocol.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Regenerative medicine: Are we at a crossroads for interventional pain medicine or just another phase?Interventional pain medicine · 2025Article
- Letter to editor: Intradiscal steroid injection for lumbar canal stenosis: novel but not yet ready for clinical adoption.Asian spine journal · 2025Article
- A Proposed Diagnostic and Treatment Algorithm for the Management of Lumbar Discogenic Pain.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Comparative analysis of treatments for vertebrogenic chronic low back pain: Intradiscal steroid injections vs. basivertebral nerve radiofrequency ablation.Medicine internationalArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveDetermine the effectiveness of intradiscal corticosteroid injection (IDCI) for the treatment of discovertebral low back pain.
designSystematic review. POPULATION: Adults with chronic low back pain attributed to disc or vertebral end plate pain, as evidenced by positive provocation discography or Modic 1 or 2 changes on magnetic resonance imaging.
interventionFluoroscopically guided or computed tomography-guided IDCI. COMPARISON: Sham/placebo procedure including intradiscal saline, anesthetic, discography alone, or other active treatment. OUTCOMES: Reduction in chronic low back pain reported on a visual analog scale or numeric rating scale and reduction in disability reported by a validated scale such as the Oswestry Disability Index.
methodsFour reviewers independently assessed articles published before January 31, 2023, in Medline, Embase, CENTRAL, and CINAHL. The quality of evidence was evaluated with the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) framework. The risk of bias in randomized trials was evaluated with the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool (version 2).
resultsOf the 7806 unique records screened, 6 randomized controlled trials featuring 603 total participants ultimately met the inclusion criteria. In multiple randomized controlled trials, IDCI was found to reduce pain and disability for 1-6 months in those with Modic 1 and 2 changes but not in those selected by provocation discography.
conclusionAccording to GRADE, there is low-quality evidence that IDCI reduces pain and disability for up to 6 months in individuals with chronic discovertebral low back pain as evidenced by Modic 1 and 2 changes but not in individuals selected by provocation discography. STUDY REGISTRATION: PROSPERO (CRD42021287421).
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.