BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Epidural analgesia is often used to control postoperative pain or to manage chronic pain in oncologic patients. However, it is not free from complications. This case reports a young healthy female patient submitted to epidural analgesia in patient-controlled infusion pump, which developed epidural abscess requiring surgical decompression. CASE REPORT Female patient, ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Spinal epidural abscesses are major complications of epidural anesthesia, and their MR features have been reported. In patients receiving continuous infusion via an epidural catheter, MR findings may mimic those of spinal epidural abscess in the absence of infection. The purpose of this study was to assess the spinal MR findings associated with continuous epidural anesthe...

Epidural steroid injections (ESI) are a common treatment for back pain management. ESI-related complications have increased with the growing number of procedures. We report a case of cervical meningomyelitis followed by multiple lumbar ESI. A 60-year-old male with diabetes mellitus presented to our hospital with severe neck pain. He had a history of multiple lumbar injections from a local pain ...

Spinal epidural abscesses are an uncommon cause of spinal cord injury but, depending on the size and presence of neurological deficits, urgent neurosurgical intervention may be required. We present a unique case of a patient presenting with a spinal epidural collection several days after a fall. While a spinal epidural hematoma was suspected based on the patient's history and MRI findings, a sp...

We present a case of a posterior epidural abscess at the thoracic vertebral level causing paraparesia in a young, healthy individual with no otherwise predisposing factors, with normal laboratory findings, as diagnosed using fat-suppressed MR imaging. Spinal epidural abscess is a rare condition, encountered mostly in the midthoracic or lower lumbar vertebral levels of elderly patients, that has...

We present the case of a patient with low back pain who rapidly progressed to cauda equina syndrome due to an extended epidural abscess of the thoracic, lumbar and sacral spine. The patient was successfully treated with surgical decompression through laminectomies at L1, L3 and L5 levels and surgical drainage of the epidural pus. Six-week course of intravenous antibiotic therapy followed. At 6-...

Brucellosis is an endemic disease in developing countries. The most commonly observed complications include bone-joint involvement, particularly sacroiliitis and spondylitis. Epidural abscesses caused by brucellosis are a rare complication. We describe the case of a 33-year-old man presenting with high fever, back pain, and weakness. At physical examination, the patient was found to be parapare...

Editor—I have been reading with interest the recent articles in your journal concerning epidural abscesses after insertion of epidural catheters, 1–3 and am in favour of the suggestions made to minimize the risk. However, I would like to highlight the point previously made in this journal that epidurals are not the only cause of an epidural abscess. 4 I recently anaesthetized a 30-yr-old woman ...