Table 3.

Studies using intercostal nerve chemical neurolysis and epidural steroid injections

Authors	Study design	Inclusion criteria	Route	N	Dose	Outcome
Jayaraman and Parthasarathy[13]	Observational study	PHN > 3 months	Intercostal 50% alcohol under USG guidance	6	8 mL of the mixture of 4 mL of 0.5% bupivacaine with 4 mL of 100% alcohol	VAS scores came down to near 1 or 2 in all the cases. The reduction in pain scores persisted for 3 months.
Ghanavatian et al.[16]	Retrospective analysis	PHN	Epidural steroid injection 41 interlaminar and 1 transforaminal	42	Not mentioned	24 of 42 patients had a moderate-to-good pain relief 2 weeks after ESI, 19 patients (79%) had persistent relief after 12 weeks.
						PHN duration <11 months was predictive of moderate-to-good pain relief at 12 weeks’ post-ESI, with a positive predictive value of 55.2%.