On the Use of Steroids for Those with Spinal Injuries

For four years, Dr. Sagun Tuli worked on a Canadian task force that conducted research on the effectiveness and safety of steroid treatment for those with spinal injuries. Many individuals with back pain have received cortisone steroid injections to help with their pain, as this kind of steroid is mainly used to decrease inflammation. Recently, however, the New York Times reported that a trial showed that even cortisone treatments used to help those with a specific condition, known as lumbosacral radiculopathy, which causes back pain, had little to no effect.

The practice of steroid use for those with back pain and spinal cord injuries has been under scrutiny for a number of years, and an orthopedic surgeon from the Mayo Clinic released a statement saying that IV steroids don’t help patients any more than placebo injections. Instead of focusing on this method, which hasn’t been found to be successful across the wide range of research projects that have been conducted in the field, the Mayo Clinic chose to focus its efforts on the study of spinal cord regeneration through tissue engineering methods.

Dr. Sagun Tuli has completed research projects in the spinal surgery sector, and she has been granted several honors and accolades for her significant achievements in this field.