Variations in corticosteroid/anesthetic injections for painful shoulder conditions: comparisons among orthopaedic surgeons, rheumatologists, and physical medicine and primary-care physicians

Table 1 Various recommended corticosteroid dose ranges. Currently Recommended Corticosteroid ("Cortisone") Dose Ranges

Generic Name (Tradename)	Intermediate Joint^a (mg) [A-C Joint]	Large Joint^a (mg) [S-A Bursa and G-H Joint]	References
Methylprednisolone diacetate (Depo-Medrol^®)	-	40–60	Cush and Kavanaugh (2000)⁶
	20–30	40–80	Greene (2001)⁷
	20–40	40–80	Tallia and Cardone (2003)³
	-	20–80	Noerdlinger and Fadale (2001)²
Prednisolone tebutate (Hydeltra-TBA^®)	5–50^b	5–50^b	Cush and Kavanaugh (2000)⁶
	-	10–40	Noerdlinger and Fadale (2001)²
Triamcinolone acetonide (Kenalog^®)	5–40^b	5–40^b	Cush and Kavanaugh (2000)⁶
	10	20	Saunders (2002)⁴
	-	5–40	Noerdlinger and Fadale (2001)²
	10–20	40–80	Moore (2001)⁸
Triamcinolone hexacetonide (Aristospan^®)	5–40^b	5–40^b	Cush and Kavanaugh (2000)⁶
	-	10–20	Noerdlinger and Fadale (2001)²
Betamethasone sodium phosphate – Betamethasone acetate (Celestone Soluspan^®)	1.5–6^b	1.5–6^b	Cush and Kavanaugh (2000)⁶
	1.5–3	6–12	Tallia and Cardone (2003)³
	-	6–12	Noerdlinger and Fadale (2001)²

^a "Intermediate joints" = A-C, elbow, wrist, temporal mandibular, and ankle; "Large joints" = S-A bursa, G-H, hip, and knee (Source: Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) 2004, American Medical Association, AMA Press)
^b The authors listed suggested these general ranges for both intermediate and large joints.

ISSN: 1471-2474