Is the full text of the article on the efficacy of lumbar epidural steroid injections (LESIs) available for free?

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Accessing the Full Text of "The Efficacy of Lumbar Epidural Steroid Injections: Transforaminal, Interlaminar, and Caudal Approaches"

The full text of this article is not freely available through PubMed Central or open access repositories. The article by Rho and Tang (2011) would need to be accessed through a subscription to the journal "Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America" or purchased individually.

How to Access Medical Literature

Institutional Access Options

  • University or hospital library subscriptions often provide access to this journal through their electronic resources 1
  • Many medical institutions have subscriptions to Elsevier journals, which publishes this particular journal 2

Alternative Access Methods

  • The article may be available through interlibrary loan services at academic or medical libraries 2
  • Some authors may have self-archived their manuscripts in institutional repositories, though this practice varies widely 3
  • The publisher's website (Elsevier) would allow purchase of the individual article 4

PubMed Limitations

  • PubMed provides citation information and abstracts but typically does not provide full-text access unless the article is in PubMed Central 1
  • Only approximately 10% of articles indexed in PubMed have free full-text versions available in PubMed Central 1

Relevance of This Article

This article would be valuable for understanding different approaches to lumbar epidural steroid injections, which are an important intervention discussed in multiple clinical guidelines:

  • Epidural steroid injections may be used as part of multimodal treatment for radicular pain or radiculopathy 5
  • Guidelines recommend appropriate image guidance for transforaminal epidural injections to confirm correct needle position 5
  • The British Pain Society acknowledges epidural injections as part of the care pathway for selected patients with low back and radicular pain 5

Alternative Resources

If you cannot access this specific article, consider reviewing these freely available guideline resources that cover similar content:

  • The American Society of Anesthesiologists practice guidelines for chronic pain management provide recommendations on epidural steroid injections 5
  • The British Pain Society's pathway for low back and radicular pain includes information on injection therapies 5
  • Guidelines for the performance of fusion procedures for degenerative disease of the lumbar spine include sections on injection therapies 5

While these alternative resources provide evidence-based recommendations on epidural steroid injections, the specific comparative information on transforaminal, interlaminar, and caudal approaches that would be in the requested article may not be as comprehensively covered.

References

Research

How to find the best evidence.

Respiratory care, 2009

Research

Public accessibility of biomedical articles from PubMed Central reduces journal readership--retrospective cohort analysis.

FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, 2013

Guideline

Guideline Directed Topic Overview

Dr.Oracle Medical Advisory Board & Editors, 2025

Professional Medical Disclaimer

This information is intended for healthcare professionals. Any medical decision-making should rely on clinical judgment and independently verified information. The content provided herein does not replace professional discretion and should be considered supplementary to established clinical guidelines. Healthcare providers should verify all information against primary literature and current practice standards before application in patient care. Dr.Oracle assumes no liability for clinical decisions based on this content.

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