• 13
  • January
    2012

Steroid injections are commonly used to relieve back and neck pain, but the injections reportedly sometimes come with side effects, such as stroke, paralysis and death. Due to an increase in the number of reported complications, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reviewing the safety of these injections into the epidural space near the spinal cord.

This review comes at a time when steroid injections are quite popular. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, about 8.9 million people received steroid shots in 2011. One study, by the chairman of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, found that the number of steroid injections for Medicare patients also had a 159 percent increase from 2000 to 2010.

The decision to review the once-believed-to-be safe shot came after one hospital's chief of pain medicine alerted the FDA to harsh complications caused by the steroid shots. And while he claims these complications do not happen every time, they do still happen, which is a concern.

When looking at some complications that have happened in the past, in 2007 one man went into a locked-in-state after receiving a shot of two steroids. At the time, he had only wanted the shots to be able to relieve shoulder and neck pain so he could enjoy the holidays with his family. However, seconds after the shot was administered, the left side of his body started to show signs of a stroke. A breathing tube ended up being inserted, and surgery was done to relieve swelling on his brain.

Three weeks after those shots were administered the man was stuck in a state where he could hear and see, but was not able to actually respond because his muscles were paralyzed.

At this point, the man has been able to once again speak. But in a lawsuit, he claims he was not warned that the shot could result in a brain injury, and that if he had known this, he most likely would not have gone through with the procedure.

Sadly, this man's story is just one of many who have suffered from serious complications, or even death, after receiving an epidural. Looking to the future, it will be interesting to see what the FDA finds, and if more regulations will be put in place regarding these shots.

Source: Businessweek, "Epidurals Linked to Paralysis Seen With $300 Billion Pain Market," David Armstrong, Jan. 4, 2012