Objective: This study was designed to evaluate the long term effect of the epidural injections with steroid and local anesthetics in the low back pain patients by assessments of Visual Analog Scale (VAS) scores and several relating factors that influence good results.

Method: Seventy two low back pain patients with or without sciatica were treated with epidural injections of weekly steroid (methylprednisolone acetate) and daily local anesthetics (lidocaine and bupivacaine) for 2 weeks via an epidural catheter. The efficacy of the epidural injections was assessed with Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score at the day of admission (VAS1), discharge (VAS2) and during the long term follow up period (VAS3)(mean：14 months, 8∼24 months).

Results: VAS1, VAS2 and VAS3 were 6.22⁑2.03, 3.36⁑1.49, and 3.39⁑1.45 respectively. VAS2 and VAS3 were significantly different with VAS1 (p＜0.05).

Conclusion: Epidural injections of steroid and local anesthetics are effective not only in the short term period, but also in the long term peroid for patients with low back pain with or without sciatica

Keywords :Epidural injection, Low back pain, Long term effect, Visual analog scale