Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Efficacy of ultrasound-guided subacromial bursa steroid injection for treating shoulder pain in post-stroke hemiparetic patients

Sunbin Chen¹, Shibin Lin², Minghui Li¹, Siwei Li¹, Kefeng Yang³

¹Department of Ultrasound, Qionghai Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Qionghai, China; ²Department of Ultrasound, Hainan Women and Children's Medical Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China; ³Department of Ultrasound, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China.

For correspondence:- Kefeng Yang Email: yangkf2022@126.com Tel:+8613976736929

Accepted: 27 August 2023 Published: 30 September 2023

Citation: Chen S, Lin S, Li M, Li S, Yang K. Efficacy of ultrasound-guided subacromial bursa steroid injection for treating shoulder pain in post-stroke hemiparetic patients. Trop J Pharm Res 2023; 22(9):1879-1886 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v22i9.15

© 2023 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the efficacy of ultrasound-guided subacromial bursa (SAB) steroid injection for treating hemiplegic shoulder pain (HSP) after stroke (CS), as well as its impact on joint mobility, and inflammatory mediators.

Methods: Seventy-two (72) patients with CS-related HSP were divided into two groups: study and control groups. The study group received ultrasound-guided SAB injection of triamcinolone acetonide in addition to conventional treatment, while control group received only conventional rehabilitation. Both groups received 4 weeks of treatment and were assessed using pain visual analogue scale (VAS) and passive range of motion (PROM) indices before treatment and at 1, 4, and 12 weeks after treatment. Additionally, the Fugl-Meyer motor function (FMA-U) scale score, activities of daily living (ADL) score, modified Barthel index (MBI), serum IL-1β, IL-6, nitric oxide (NO) levels, and incidence of adverse reactions were assessed before and after 4 weeks of treatment.

Results: The study group had a significantly higher total efficacy/effectiveness (86.11 %) compared to control group (53.89 %). Both groups showed initial decreases and subsequent increases in VAS and PROM from week 1 to week 12 after treatment. However, the study group had significantly lower VAS scores, angle of forward flexion, abduction, and external rotation at all time points compared to control group (p < 0.05). At week 4, the study group had significantly higher FMA-U, ADL, and MBI scores, as well as significantly lower IL-1β, IL-6, and NO levels when compared to control group (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Ultrasound-guided SAB steroid injection improves the efficacy of HSP after CS, improves joint mobility, and reduces serum levels of IL-1β, IL-6, and NO. Further large-sample studies with increased sample sizes and longer investigation periods are needed to validate these findings.

Keywords: Ultrasound, Subacromial bursa steroid injection, Stroke, Hemiplegic shoulder pain, Efficacy