The safety and effectiveness of lumbar transforaminal injection of sterile amniotic fluid filtrate compared to steroid for lumbosacral radicular pain due to spinal stenosis: a phase I/II double-blinded randomized trial.
Pain MedSep 1, 2026
Zachary L McCormick, Hasan Sen, Amanda N Cooper et al.
✦ AI-curated · Sources linked
In 30 seconds
This phase I/II double-blinded randomized trial evaluated the safety and effectiveness of lumbar transforaminal injections of human amniotic fluid filtrate (hAF) versus dexamethasone in 58 patients with lumbosacral radicular pain due to spinal stenosis. At 3 months, dexamethasone resulted in significantly higher rates of ≥50% pain reduction in back (45.8% vs 15.0%) and leg pain (60.0% vs 25.0%) compared to hAF.
Key findings
- Dexamethasone led to 45.8% of participants achieving ≥50% back pain reduction compared to 15.0% for hAF.
- For leg pain, 60.0% of dexamethasone recipients reported ≥50% reduction versus 25.0% for hAF.
- No serious adverse events were reported in either group, indicating comparable safety profiles.
Why it matters
The findings suggest that dexamethasone may provide superior pain relief compared to hAF for patients with radicular pain from spinal stenosis, which is crucial for optimizing treatment strategies in this population.