Granulocytic sarcoma or chloroma is a tumor seen in myelocytic leukemia. Spinal epidural onset is rare and is generally seen before or together with the onset of myelocytic leukemia. An epidural mass located at the 2nd-5th thoracic levels in an 18-year-old male patient was pathologically diagnosed as granulocytic sarcoma. Radiotherapy was performed after surgical intervention. Ten months later,...

Although cavernous hemangiomas occur frequently in the intracranial structures, they are rare in the spine. Most of spinal hemangiomas are vertebral origin and "pure" epidural hemangiomas not originating from the vertebral bone are very rare. Our spinal hemangioma case is extremely rare because of its "pure" epidural involvement and intralesional hemorrhage. A 64-year-old man presented with pro...

This report involves a 74-year-old-male who developed a thoracic epidural hematoma with paraparesis on the second postoperative day in conjunction with thoracic epidural anesthesia established before surgery for acute abdominal aortic dissection. The finding indicates that laminectomy can be performed successfully as late as three days after diagnosis of the hematoma, with a complete restitutio...

BACKGROUND The combining of epidural anesthesia with general anesthesia impairs central and peripheral thermoregulatory control and therefore is often accompanied by unintended intraoperative hypothermia. However, little is known about the cardiovascular response to hypothermia during combined epidural and general anesthesia. The authors assessed the effects of hypothermia during such combined ...

BACKGROUND It may be clinically useful to predict the depth of the epidural space. METHODS To investigate the accuracy of preoperative abdominal computed tomography (CT) in prediction of the distance for low-thoracic epidural insertion, a single group observational study was conducted in 30 male patients undergoing elective major abdominal surgery requiring epidural analgesia for postoperativ...

Thoracic epidural anesthesia is considered as an essential component of the perioperative care for patients undergoing lung resection. Although neurologic adverse events have been associated with this technique, permanent injury is rare. These events primarily involve the peripheral nervous system; for example, nerve root injury. We present a case of persistent cortical blindness after a test d...

UNLABELLED INTRODUCTION Posterior epidural migration of thoracic disc herniation is extremely rare but may occur in the same manner as in the lumbar spine. CASE PRESENTATION A 53-year-old Japanese man experienced sudden onset of incomplete paraplegia after lifting a heavy object. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a posterior epidural mass compressing the spinal cord at the T9-T10 level. ...

Thoracotomy often causes severe acute postoperative pain, which leads to a high incidence of pulmonary complications.1,2) Unless controlled suffi ciently, impaired pulmonary function can deteriorate.3) Effective pain control following thoracotomy should be a prerequisite for uneventful postoperative recovery. Thoracic epidural analgesia is considered the golden standard for pain control followi...

Many approaches for minimally invasive coronary bypass surgery are available and to further decrease the invasiveness, coronary artery bypass grafting has been performed under high thoracic epidural anesthesia without endotracheal intubation in the last years. Less invasive approach to coronary artery bypass graft operations is possible through combination of the high thoracic epidural anesthes...

Epidural block is useful for chronic pain and thoracic surgery. However, there are several complications, which include vessels or dural puncture, pleural puncture, misplacement of epidural catheter and trauma to the spinal cord. We report a case of intercostal misplacement of an epidural catheter in a 66-year-old patient who scheduled for left thoracotomy.