ArticleAnesthesiology and pain medicine2026
Enhanced Delivery of Transforaminal Epidural Steroid Injection (TFESI) for Radiculopathy Associated with Acute Lumbar Disc Prolapse Through Physiotherapist-led Assessment, Consent, and Direct Listing.
Article in Anesthesiology and pain medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Context: Invasive treatments for lumbar radiculopathy with persistent symptoms and concordant disc prolapse include a transforaminal epidural steroid injection (TFESI) and microdiscectomy. Evidence supports TFESI as a potential first-line alternative to surgery. Our expedited nerve root block service (ERBS) reduced progression to surgery; however, waiting times remained suboptimal. Objectives: We evaluated a streamlined pathway incorporating physiotherapy-led consent and direct TFESI listing. Methods: This retrospective observational study evaluated a pathway modification in which the pre-procedure specialist consultation was removed. Two Musculoskeletal Clinical Assessment Service (MCAS) physiotherapists were trained to assess suitability, obtain consent, and list patients directly for TFESI, with consultant validation conducted virtually. The primary outcomes were the median waiting time from MCAS consent to TFESI and the change in waiting time compared with the previous pathway. Secondary outcomes were the proportion of listings validated, patient-reported response to TFESI, progression to surgery, and the association between TFESI response and disc pathology. Results: A total of 129 patients provided consent (mean age, 47.3 ± 12.7 years; 95% confidence interval (CI), 45.1 - 49.5; 63.6% female), with 100% validation. The median waiting time from MCAS consent to TFESI was 50 days (range, 2 - 262 days), representing a 37-day reduction (43%) compared with the previous pathway. A positive TFESI response occurred in 83% of patients, and 14% required microdiscectomy. Response rates were similar for disc protrusion (84%) and extrusion (81%). Conclusions: A physiotherapy-led ERBS pathway was associated with reduced waiting times and no identified safety concerns, while maintaining a low conversion rate to surgery.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.