Background The spread of epidural analgesia is facilitated by pregnancy. Changes in the epidural structure during pregnancy may affect the spread of analgesia in pregnant women. To investigate the changes in the epidural space produced by pregnancy, the authors performed epiduroscopy in pregnant women. Methods: Using a flexible fiberscope, the authors evaluated the epidural space in 73 women un...

BACKGROUND Up to 10% of epidurals fail due to incorrect catheter placement. We describe a novel optical method to assist epidural catheter insertion in a porcine model. METHODS Optical emissions were tested on ex vivo tissues from porcine paravertebral tissues to identify optical reflective spectra. The wavelengths of 650 and 532 nm differentiated epidural space from the ligamentum flavum. We...

Background and Objectives. Previous studies have used varying methods to estimate the depth of the epidural space prior to placement of an epidural catheter. We aim to use computed tomography scans, patient demographics, and vertebral level to estimate the depth of the loss of resistance for placement of thoracic epidural catheters. Methods. The records of consecutive patients who received a th...

background: we report the analgesic efficacy of lumbar epidural adenosine injection in reducing the chronic neuropathic pain in a patient with primitive neuroectodermal tumor. report of the case: in this case report a 13-year-old male with primary neuroectodermal tumor (pnet) was administered in epidural space with adenosine to reduce his pain. the patient received 10ml of 0.25% ropivacaine and...

an inflammatory pseudotumor (ipt) is a rare benign lesion, characterized by nonneoplastic proliferation of inflammatory cells and presence of intermingling collagen fibers. ipt commonly occurs in the lungs and orbita, while an intraspinal ipt is extremely rare. ipt can mimic both clinically and radiologically malignant processes, and making a definitive preoperative diagnosis is often difficult...

Epidural catheter (EC) migration is well documented entity in literature. However, most of these reports are consistent with introduction of Tuohy needle, either partially or completely, into intravascular, subdural and subarachnoid spaces prior to the placement of catheter. We report an intra-operative delayed migration of epidural catheter into subarachnoid space after apparently normal needl...

provided the original work is properly cited. CC Thoracic epidural catheterization is used widely for anesthesia and postoperative pain control in thoracic and abdominal surgery. Generally, an epidural catheter is inserted only 4–5 cm into the epidural space, as excessive catheter insertion causes complications like vascular injury and paresthesias [1]. Nevertheless, a catheter can often be ins...

BACKGROUND Based on the necessity to confirm the epiradicular catheter misplacement, epiradicular threshold current for the confirmation of catheter tip localization is required. METHODS Thirty-four adult patients with low extremity radiating pain were to receive epiradicular catheterization at the lumbosacral level. The epidural space was accessed percutaneously in cranial to caudal directio...

BACKGROUND Transforaminal epidural steroid injection is one of the effective treatments in managing radicular pain. There have been some prospective studies on the depth to the epidural space with the transforaminal approach. However, there have been no studies about the depth in Asians, especially Koreans. This study was carried out in order to evaluate the depth to the epidural space and the ...

We have compared skin to epidural space distance (SED) and tip to tip distance (TTD), a measure of posterior epidural space depth (PESD), in 40 patients with a 27-gauge Whitacre needle after identification of the epidural space using the hanging drop (HD) or loss of resistance (LOR) to air technique. After the LOR technique, TTD was found to be 2 mm greater than that after the HD technique, whe...