Satisfactory pain relief with postoperative extradural bupivacaine increases the amount of breast feeding after Caesarean section. To investigate the effect of extradural buprenorphine, we have evaluated the amount of breast feeding and the gain in infant weight for 11 days after Caesarean section in patients who received continuous extradural bupivacaine with or without buprenorphine. Extradur...

We have examined the extradural space using a flexible extraduroscope in 74 patients undergoing extradural anaesthesia at the L2-3 interspace. Extraduroscopy showed that the extradural space becomes widely patent and the fatty tissue in the extradural space diminishes with increasing age. We postulate that these age-related structural changes may affect the spread of local anaesthetic in the ex...

Extradural spinal meningiomas are very rare, especially in cervical region. A purely extradural location presenting as neck mass is quite exceptional reported this paper. We present a case of meningioma an 18 year old male located spine that was surgically treated with provisional diagnosis schwanomma. Histopathological fibroblastic made the routine hematoxylin and eosin (H & E) stain. The orig...

Extradural abscess is a rare but recognized complication of extradural anaesthesia. Previous reports have been associated with a short time interval between extradural catheterization and presentation. We report a patient with rheumatoid arthritis, receiving steroid therapy, in whom an extradural abscess did not present until 23 days after the insertion of a thoracic extradural catheter to prov...

The endocrine response, and the relief of pain, following the extradural administration of morphine or a local anaesthetic agent bupivacaine (0.5%) were studied for 24h after abdominal surgery and compared with a control group given conventional i.v. morphine after operation. Samples were taken before and at 2, 4, 6, 12 and 24 h after skin incision. Pain relief in both extradural groups was sig...

We have studied magnetic resonance images of the lumbar spine of 39 subjects to examine the anatomy of the lumbar extradural region. The segmental nature of the posterior extradural region at each lumbar level may explain reports of easier cranial passage of extradural catheters introduced by the paramedian approach. This approach may thus provide a more reliable route for rapid introduction of...

The use of extradural catheters in patients with systemic or localized infection is controversial. The catheter may act as a focus for secondary infection resulting in an extradural abscess. in this study we have examined the use of extradural catheters for anaesthesia over the past 7 yr in patients with localized infections. The records of 69 patients were reviewed and patients interviewed (le...

The influence of thoracic extradural local anaesthetics (0.5% bupivacaine) or extradural morphine on the metabolic response to upper abdominal surgery was compared with the administration of morphine i.v. in the period after operation. The extradural local anaesthetic group had significantly lower blood glucose and plasma FFA concentrations and consistently, but not significantly, lower blood g...

We have evaluated the effects of lumbar extradural morphine and lignocaine on the ventilatory response to carbon dioxide. Twenty-four female patients were allocated randomly to receive extradural morphine 2 mg (group M), 2% lignocaine 10 ml (group L) or a combination of morphine 2 mg and 2% lignocaine 10 ml (group ML). On the day before surgery, resting ventilatory values including minute volum...

Specially selected soft Macintosh balloon indicators were attached to needles during five extradural and five spinal punctures. When the needle point entered the extradural space, the mean balloon pressure decreased suddenly from 24.9 (range 14-37) to 12.3 (10-16) mm Hg in the five extradural punctures and from 22.3 (17-28) to 13.7 (10-17) mm Hg in the five spinal punctures. In the five spinal ...