Abstract
Epidural block is a well-established method of providing both surgical anesthesia and analgesia. Epidural catheter migration is a recognized complication of this anesthetic modality. Once the catheter is inserted, it may still migrate despite efforts to secure it in place at the skin. Movement of the epidural catheter can induce many complications, the most serious resulting in unintentional intravascular or intrathecal injection of local anesthetic. Other issues can also arise, such as subdural migration, which can have dangerous effects, as well as migration out of the epidural space via an intervertebral foramen resulting in a unilateral or patchy block. The numerous safety concerns associated with catheter migrations have heralded the development of fixation devices. Because of the potentially devastating complications of catheter migration, it is very important of the anesthetist to recognize when a catheter is no longer in the epidural space.
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Qureshi, O.R., Anitescu, M. (2018). Complications Related to Catheter Migration. In: Anitescu, M., Benzon, H., Wallace, M. (eds) Challenging Cases and Complication Management in Pain Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60072-7_27
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