During the past several weeks there has been much in the news about contaminated steroid compounds being used by pain management clinics around the country for steroid injection procedures. The result has been a significant number serious spinal meningitis cases, including some fatalities, in patients who received these injections. These tainted compounds have all been traced to a single company, the New England Compounding Center, located in Massachusetts. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) none of these compounds were shipped to Washington State. Nonetheless, this has raised questions of steroid injection safety among many patients who have received them as part of their pain management regime.
Steroid injections for the reduction of pain in specific areas have been used safely for decades by pain management specialists. They have been shown to be a viable and effective treatment option for a large number of patients who could not find adequate pain relief through other less invasive treatment methods. The issue surrounding the current crisis is not one of steroid injection safety or efficacy so much as it is one of ...
