Epidural Anesthesia

This is similar to spinal anesthesia but instead of entered the spinal canal, the needle is place near the canal and a catheter is inserted and the needle removed. The anesthetic and analgesic medications are injected through the catheter and must diffuse through the covering of the spinal canal (the "dura"). Leaving the catheter in place allows for repeat dosing of pain relieving medications after surgery.

We do not use epidural anesthesia for two reasons. First, we have not found it to be as predictably effective as spinal anesthetic. Second, because we start blood thinning medication (i.e. Coumadin) the night before surgery, we are concerned about bleeding around the catheter if it is left in place post operatively. This could cause paralysis.