Técnicas de epiduroscopia en el tratamiento del dolor lumbar: una revisión sistemática de la literatura

Objectives: Low back pain is one of the most complex benign pathologies in terms of treatment cost and effectiveness. In the present study we evaluate the usefullness of epiduroscopy en treating low back pain and its benefit over traditional percutanoeus techniques Materials and methods: We carried out a sistematic search in 4 digital databases, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane and Medline. The search was limited to articles published between January 1990 and June 2014. Only clinical studies (both observational and experimental) were included. Results: We obtained 353 articles after a thorough search in all 4 databases of which only 78 met inclusión and exclusión criteria. These 78 articles were then critically reviewed by independent peers following standardized parameters. Twenty-four (24) articles were included in the review. Most of the articles (14) evaluated adhesiolysis and epidural injections, three studies evaluated directed epidural injections alone and the remaining articles were either alternate sistematic reviews or evaluated other interventions. Conclusions: Epidurosopy is a useful tecnique in the treatment of low back pain with statistically significant differences in the long-term results in select patients. Results are best in patients with persisting symptoms after spinal fusion and in patients whose symptoms are radicular and not axial or unspecific.