The efficacy of ultrasound and fluoroscopy-guided caudal epidural prolotherapy versus steroids for chronic pain management in failed back surgery syndrome

Background Caudal epidural prolotherapy injection has emerged as a successful treatment for managing chronic pain. This study is a prospective randomized, double-blinded clinical trial. It assesses and compares the effectiveness of prolotherapy versus steroid injection for pain relief in cases of failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS). It involved randomly assigning 90 patients with FBSS to one of two equal groups: steroids or prolotherapy. The VAS was used to measure pain as the primary outcome, while disability was measured by the Oswestry disability index (ODI). McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) and complications were recorded as secondary outcomes.Results The VAS improved significantly from the baseline in both groups at all follow-up periods (p