Epidural anesthesia in elective lumbar microdiscectomy surgery: is it safe and effective?

The aim of this study was to evaluate effectiveness and safety of epidural anesthesia in elective lumbar microdiscectomy surgery.

Twenty-seven patients (78%, female), who were admitted for single level simple microdiscectomy surgery between May 2012 and December 2013 in single spine center of a university hospital, were enrolled into the study. Clinical evaluations with demographical and per-operative data were collected prospectively.

Mean age was 60.04 years. Mean weight, height, and BMI of the study population were 77.7 kg, 160.22 cm, 30.26; respectively. Mean operation duration was 45.56 minutes. Mean VAS score for pain was 0.78 at immediate post-op, 0.52 at 4th hour, and 0.35 at post-operative 24th hour. Ramsay sedation scale (RSS) scores steadily decreased from 2.07 in the immediate post-operative time to 1.93 at 4th hour and 1.88 at 24th hour. The only correlation seen between patient demographics and RSS was body weight seen in immediate post-operative period. Improvements for VAS scores for pain at 4th and 24th hours were 28% and 31%; respectively. Three patients had nausea, one of them vomited after the surgery. All patients were satisfied and would consider epidural anesthesia in future similar surgeries.

Epidural anesthesia provides a safe and effective method for elective lumbar microdiscectomy surgery.