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Experience in the use of epidural anaesthesia
K N Ozoilo1, I H Shambe, J A Ede
1Department of Surgery, Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital, Lafia. drkenozoilo@yahoo.com
Background:
Epidural anaesthesia is applicable for a wide range of surgical procedures and offers distinct advantages over general and spinal anaesthesia. It is however underutilised in our environment. We report a one year experience in the use of this technique. Our objective is to describe a one year experience in the use of epidural anaesthesia with emphasis on the scope and safety in our institution.
Method:
A retrospective study of all patients that had epidural anaesthesia over a one year period for different procedures. Case notes and anaesthetic records were studied and analysed using EPI info 3.2.1. software.
Results:
Thirty two patients had epidural anaesthesia over the period. Majority (18 cases) were caesarean sections (56.3%). There were 9 general surgical cases (28.1%), four gynaecologic (12.0%) and one orthopaedic (3.1%) cases. Of the five complications observed (15.6%), only two could be traced to the technique of anaesthesia and the lone mortality (3.1%) was unconnected.
Conclusion:
We conclude that epidural anaesthesia is applicable to a wide range of procedures within and across disciplines in our practice and is both easy to perform and safe.
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