Costly Diagnostic MRI Tests Unnecessary for Many Back Pain Patients

Johns Hopkins-led study suggests imaging studies add no value for patients getting epidural steroid injections

Newswise — Johns Hopkins-led research suggests that routine MRI imaging does nothing to improve the treatment of patients who need injections of steroids into their spinal columns to relieve pain. Moreover, MRI plays only a small role in a doctor’s decision to give these epidural steroid injections (ESIs), the most common procedure performed at pain clinics in the United States.

With greater focus on runaway health care costs, the study’s findings, appearing online in the Archives of Internal Medicine, highlight one element of the problem: the indiscriminate use of an expensive imaging tool that shows little clinical benefit.

“Our results suggest that MRI is unlikely to avert a procedure, diminish complications or improve outcomes,” says study leader Steven P. Cohen, M.D., an associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Considering how frequently these epidural injections are performed, not routinely ordering an MRI before giving one may save significant time and resources.”

Cohen adds that, “if we’re trying to cut back on unnecessary medical costs, we should stop routinely doing MRIs on almost everyone who comes to us needing ESIs.” A single MRI costs roughly $1,500.

source: Newswise