Paraplegia after accidental continuous subdural analgesia
Jie Chen1, Yafang Hu2, Liang Lv3
1Department of Anesthesiology, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China.
Almost all reported cases of unintentional subdural block have described a reversible disorder. We report a patient who developed an incomplete mixed sensory and motor neurological deficit after accidental continuous subdural infusion of 0.1% levobupivacaine given to provide postoperative analgesia after cesarean section. Our report shows that accidental continuous subdural injection can cause permanent neurological sequelae. In the event of suspected compressive neural damage, subdural fluid accumulation, although very rare, should be considered.
Almost all reported cases of unintentional subdural block have described a reversible disorder. We report a patient who developed an incomplete mixed sensory and motor neurological deficit after accidental continuous subdural infusion of 0.1% levobupivacaine given to provide postoperative analgesia after cesarean section. Our report shows that accidental continuous subdural injection can cause permanent neurological sequelae. In the event of suspected compressive neural damage, subdural fluid accumulation, although very rare, should be considered.
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