Ultrasound-guided removal of epidural catheter breakage after percutaneous epidural neuroplasty: A case report

Lee, Chang Soon; Kim, Sung Woo; Shin, Jae Hyuek; Park, Soo Young; Lee, Sang Chul

Case Report

Spinal Pain

Anesthesia and Pain Medicine 2011;6(4):321-324.
Published online October 31, 2011.

Ultrasound-guided removal of epidural catheter breakage after percutaneous epidural neuroplasty: A case report

Chang Soon Lee, Sung Woo Kim, Jae Hyuek Shin, Soo Young Park, Sang Chul Lee

Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. soo02@snu.ac.kr

Abstract

The breakage of epidural catheter seldom makes severe complication, but it may be a stressful event to nervous chronic pain patients. We discovered a retained epidural catheter in plain x-ray image and CT scan following a percutaneous epidural neuroplasty for a 62-year-old woman. Even though surgical removal of the catheter was not tried for 1 year, we decided to remove the catheter fragment as the patient's request, if exploration would be easy. Sonographic evaluation showed that the tip of the epidural catheter beneath subcunateous tissue between sacral hiatus. Ultrasound will be an invaluable tool when trying to remove the broken catheter under local anesthesia if its tip is out of the sacral hiatus.

Key Words: Complication, Epidural catheter, Foreign body removal, Percutaneous epidural neuroplasty, Ultrasound