Does the Presence of Cervical Facet Tropism Affect the Response to Interlaminar Epidural Steroid Injections? A Prospective Clinical Study

Facet joints are synovial joints located on the dorsolateral side of the vertebral column. Normally, both facet joints are symmetrical. Facet tropism (FT) is defined as asymmetry between the angles of orientation of the joints, in which a facet joint in the same segment is more sagittally oriented than the other. In 1967, Farfan and Sullivan first reported that FT is a possible risk factor for the development of disk herniation. However, this is controversial as there are other views advocating that FT is not a risk factor for the development of cervical disc herniation. Further, it has been emphasized that patients with FT have a greater need for adjacent segment degeneration and new spinal surgery after spinal fusion surgeries than those without FT.

In the current literature, studies have been conducted to examine the clinical and radiological parameters that may be related to the effectiveness of cervical interlaminar epidural steroid injections (ILESI). The aim of this study was to examine the effect of the presence of FT on ILESI results in patients with cervical disc herniation-induced radicular pain.