Comparison of Intravascular Injection Rates During Cervical and Lumbar Medial Branch Block Using Touhy or Quincke Type Needle

In previous reports, the use of Toughy needle was thought to reduce the incidence of intravascular injection during lumbar transforaminal injection. Blunt needles with a pencil point tip, such as Whitacre needles, are not as sharp at their tip as are Quincke needles, which have bevels. Toughy or blunt needles may therefore be less likely to penetrate a vessel during a procedure. Hence, the investigators postulated the incidence of intravenous uptake would be significantly lower using a Toughy needle than using a Quincke needle for lumbar medial branch block. To confirm the intravascular injection rates, the investigators used the real time fluoroscopy after injection of contrast medium.

The goal of this study was to compare the incidence of intravascular injection rate betweeen Toughy and Quincke needles using real time fluoroscopy during lumbar medial branch block