2Ankara Etlik City Hospital, Radiology, Ankara, Turkey DOI : 10.29400/tjgeri.2024.395 Introduction: The lumbar erector spinae plane block is one of the interventional procedures for chronic low back pain. This study aimed to compare the efficacy of lumbar erector spinae plane block for chronic axial low back pain due to disc protrusion/bulging in geriatric and younger patients and to evaluate clinical, demographic, and radiological characteristics that may be associated with treatment success.
Materials and Method: The clinical and demographic data of patients who underwent ultrasound-guided lumbar erector spinae plane block for chronic axial low back pain between November 2022 and July 2023 were retrospectively evaluated. Patients were divided into two groups, ?65 and <65 years of age, and treatment efficacy at the third month after the procedure was evaluated and compared.
Results: A total of 147 patients (75 patients aged <65 years and 72 patients aged ?65 years) were included in the analysis, and a successful treatment response (at least 50% pain relief) was achieved in 44.4% of geriatric patients and 62.6% of younger patients (p=0.027). In addition BMI, comorbidity, opioid use, and lumbar paraspinal fatty infiltration were significantly higher in geriatric patients than in younger patients (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that lumbar erector spinae plane block for chronic axial low back pain provides significantly less pain relief in geriatric patients than in younger patients at three-month follow-up.
Keywords : Lower back pain; Aged; Injection; Ultrasound imaging