Bacterial Sacroiliitis Probably Induced by Lumbar Epidural Analgesia

BACKGROUND Properly administered, lumbar epidural analgesia provides adequate pain relief during labor and delivery, and is considered to be a safe procedure with limited complications. The prevalence of infection after lumbar epidural analgesia is negligible. INTRODUCTION Infection of the sacroiliac joint, although very close to the pucture area, has never been reported as a procedure complication. CASE In this report, we describe a patient who experienced bacterial sacroiliitis a few days after lumbar epidural analgesia for labor. No portal of entry was identified, and we evoked a new potential risk factor that has never been proposed before, namely lumbar epidural analgesia. CONCLUSION Sacroiliitis must be considered as a rare but serious complication of lumbar epidural analgesia.