AN UNUSUAL COMPLICATION OF EXTRADURAL CATHETERIZATION IN OBSTETRIC ANAESTHESIA

An unusual complication of extradural catheterization in obstetric anaesthesia.

An extradural catheter was inserted at the third lumbar interspace for relief of pain during labour in a 21-year-old gravid patient. Attempts to withdraw the catheter met with resistance and produced severe pain in the distribution of the second left lumbar nerve. Radiography revealed an acutely angled loop of the catheter over the L2-3 nerve root.

The Brockenbrough Transseptal Catheterization: an Unusual Complication.

Extradural, spinal or combined block for obstetric surgical anaesthesia.

Sir,—Dr Carrie, in an otherwise excellent review of regional anaesthesia in operative obstetrics [1], dismisses the practice of warming bupivacaine before extradural injection as being inconvenient and hardly merited because of a reduction of block onset time of only 20%. In this respect, he quotes our study [2] which recorded a reduction of 30 % in onset time. Moreover, we demonstrated a 23% r...

Unsuspected extradural catheterization in an interscalene block.

A 58-yr-old woman had a displaced fracture of her left radius. She developed a sympathetic dystrophy of the hand, with swollen, red tender fingers and secondary wasting of the forearm and hand muscles. She was admitted for intensive physiotherapy in an attempt to restore movement to her wrist and hand. However, this was difficult because of the intense pain when her hand was touched. Several me...

An Update in Obstetric Anaesthesia

There is generally good news on the subject of maternal mortality. Worldwide there has been a 34% decrease in the number of women dying in pregnancy and childbirth since 1990, with haemorrhage remaining the leading cause of death worldwide. In developed countries, key reports have emerged from both the UK and NZ. The 2006-2008 UK CMACE report documents a decreased number of maternal deaths, mai...