[Usefulness of epidural anesthesia for percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD)]

To study feasibility of epidural anesthesia for percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD), we made a retrospective comparison of three anesthetic groups (28 cases with epidural anesthesia, 19 cases with local anesthesia, and 28 cases with general anesthesia) undergoing PELD.

Three groups matched each other in age, the surgical site, and the duration of surgery; however, the frequency of male patients was significantly greater in the local anesthesia (LA) group. In the epidural anesthesia (EA) group, there was no patient who required a change of the anesthetic technique or analgesics administration during surgery. In EA group, patients received smaller amount of local anesthetic but spent longer time in the operating room compared with those in LA group. EA and GA groups included several cases staying long time in the hospital and presented wide statistical dispersion of the duration of hospitalization. There was no difference in the dose of local anesthetics, the duration of total procedure, or time to discharge between EA and GA groups.

Epidural anesthesia is suggested to be a useful option for anesthetic techniques in patients undergoing PELD.