Table 1

Representative uncontrolled intraspinal steroid investigations 1953–98. Intraspinal steroids for sciatica and low back pain in 798 subjects: 36 week average follow up

First author (ref)	Date	n	Diagnosis	Route	Steroid	Type of study	Patients with pain relief (%)^1-151
Lievre18	1953	20	Sciatica	Epidural	Hydrocortisone	Retrospective	25 at 3 w
Brown19	1960	20	Sciatica, LBP	Epidural	Prednisone, hydrocortisone	Retrospective	100 at 52 w
		4	Sciatica, LBP	Epidural	Methylprednisolone acetate	Retrospective	100 at 8 w
Goebert20	1960	239	Sciatica	Epidural	Hydrocortisone	Retrospective	66 at 12–130 w
Goebert21	1961	113	Sciatica	Epidural	Hydrocortisone	Retrospective	83 at 12+ w
Gardner22	1961	75	Sciatica	Intrathecal	Methylprednisolone acetate	Retrospective	60 at 16+ w
Sehgal23	1962	100	Sciatica	Intrathecal	Methylprednisolone acetate	Retrospective	60 at 1–44 w
Winnie24	1972	10	Sciatica	Intrathecal	Methylprednisolone acetate	Prospective	90 at 2–104 w
		10	Sciatica	Epidural	Methylprednisolone acetate	Prospective	100 at 2–104 w
El-khoury25	1988	116	LBP	Epidural	Betamethasone	Prospective	98 at several h
Rosen26	1988	40	Sciatica, LBP	Epidural	Methylprednisolone acetate	Retrospective	25 at 1–32 w
Power27	1992	16	Sciatica	Epidural	Methylprednisolone acetate	Prospective	6 at 1 w
Bowman28	1993	35	Sciatica, LBP	Epidural	Methylprednisolone acetate	Retrospective	43 at 12 w
							Patients improved: 68%

LBP=Low back pain.
↵1-151 Definition of “pain relief“=excellent+good+moderate+“not severe”.