Obstetric epidural catheter-related infections at a major teaching hospital: a retrospective case series

Clinically overt infections of the epidural catheter skin entry site occur in approximately 1-5% of patients after a few days of catheterization but serious complications such as deep tissue infection or epidural abscess appear rare in the obstetric population. In recent years, sporadic reports and small series suggest that the incidence may be higher than previously estimated.

A retrospective chart review was conducted to identify epidural catheter-related infections occurring between January 2002 and December 2005 in a tertiary referral maternity hospital delivering between 4000 and 6000 women per annum. Cases were identified using International Statistical Classification of Diseases coding.

In total 9482 women (52.8%) who delivered had an epidural catheter inserted. There were 258 cases with the relevant code identified and 49 (0.52%, 95% CI 0.37-0.66%) had epidural catheter-related infection. Four women had deep tissue infection (incidence 0.04%, 95% CI 0.01-0.11%; rate 1 in 4741), represented by paraspinous and epidural abscess formation (incidence of both 0.02%, 95% CI 0-0.08%; rate 1 in 2371). Three of the cases are described.

Serious epidural catheter-related infection in obstetric patients is rare, but our incidence of serious deep tissue infection was at the upper extreme of figures quoted in other studies.