[Prolonged motor blockade after combined epidural and general anaesthesia for oncologic gynaecological surgery]

The case described is a patient submitted to an oncologic gynaecological surgery under combined epidural and general anaesthesia. The anaesthesia involved complications, a prolonged motor blockade for up to 9 h whereas recommended doses had been respected. A few later after a magnetic resonance imaging that did not showed any extradural haematoma, full recovery occurred. The combined epidural and general anaesthesia was approved as an interesting technique for both per and postoperative analgesia, but also for postoperative rehabilitation. Nevertheless, for older patients, inhalational anaesthetics and opioids have to be decreased during the intervention, moreover local anaesthetics doses for epidural anaesthesia have to be reduced too, in order to control motor blockade duration.