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Paraplegia, a severe complication to epidural analgesia
Author(s) -
Bülow P. M.,
BieringSørensen F.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
acta anaesthesiologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1399-6576
pISSN - 0001-5172
DOI - 10.1034/j.1399-6576.1999.430221.x
Subject(s) - medicine , paraplegia , epidural abscess , complication , anesthesia , epidural space , surgery , spinal cord , catheter , combined spinal epidural , back pain , abscess , alternative medicine , pathology , psychiatry
We report four cases where continuous epidural analgesia resulted in epidural abscesses (EA) causing spinal cord damage and paraplegia. The first symptom of EA was intense back pain, which developed 0–20 days after removal of the epidural catheter. The diagnosis of EA was not made prior to the development of severe neurologic disturbances in any of the patients. In all cases there was a timelag of 2–4 days between the first symptoms and institution of the appropriate treatment.