An unexpected complication following lumbar epidural steroid injection: Hiccups

Abstract

Interventional spine procedures are widely used non-surgical approaches for the management of acute and chronic pain. Although usually considered safe, these procedures may still be associated with temporary and minor complications, including hiccups. In this article, we report a rare case of a 60-year-old male patient with low back pain who developed recurrent hiccups following a lumbar epidural steroid injection. In conclusion, the exact mechanism of hiccups remains unclear, and their relationship with the level of epidural injection or the specific drug mixture used is not well established. As hiccups following epidural injections have been insufficiently documented in the literature, this case aims to highlight hiccups as a potentially under-recognized adverse effect of epidural steroid injections in interventional pain management.

Cite this article as: Başar E, Akçaboy EY. An unexpected complication following lumbar epidural steroid injection: Hiccups. Agri 2026;38(2):137-140. doi: 10.5606/agri.2026.38.

E.B., E.Y.A.: Idea/concept, design, analysis and/or interpretation, literature review, references and fundings; E.Y.A.: Control/supervision, critical review; E.B.: Data collection and/or processing, writing the article.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

The authors declare that artificial intelligence (AI) tools were not used, or were used solely for language editing, and had no role in data analysis, interpretation, or the formulation of conclusions. All scientific content, data interpretation, and conclusions are the sole responsibility of the authors. The authors further confirm that AI tools were not used to generate, fabricate, or ‘hallucinate’ references, and that all references have been carefully verified for accuracy.