BJA Advance Access originally published online on April 2, 2004
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British Journal of Anaesthesia, 2004, Vol. 92, No. 6 896-898
© 2004 The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia
Case Reports |
Spinal epidural abscessa rare complication after epidural analgesia for labour and delivery
1 Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, 2 Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics and 3 Department of Neuroradiology, Tübingen University Hospital, Tübingen, Germany
*Corresponding author: Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Tübingen University Hospital, Hoppe-Seyler-Strasse 3, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany. E-mail: torsten.schroeder{at}uni-tuebingen.de
We report a case of spinal epidural abscess formation after short-term epidural catheter placement for analgesia during labour and delivery. The patient was previously healthy and did not have any predisposing factors. Increasing back pain was the only complaint. A contrast-enhanced CT study on day 5 was inconclusive. Magnetic resonance imaging was performed and showed a large triangular-shaped abscess with adjacent inflammation of the paravertebral muscles. One day later, the patient developed a sensory deficit in the left lower limb. The neurological deficit completely resolved after surgical decompression and debridement, which was followed by antibiotic treatment.
Br J Anaesth 2004; 92: 8968