Current status of the combined spinal-epidural technique in obstetrics and surgery

Epidural and spinal blocks are well-accepted neuraxial techniques but both have several disadvantages. Combined spinal-epidural (CSE) can combine the best features of both techniques and reduce or eliminate these disadvantages. It provides the rapidity, density, and reliability of subarachnoid block with the flexibility of catheter epidural technique to extend the duration of anesthesia/analgesia (and to improve spinal block). It is an excellent technique for determining minimum intrathecal drug doses. Although most commonly employed in obstetric practice, CSE is also used in a wide variety of non-obstetric surgical procedures including orthopedic, vascular, gynecological, urological, and general surgical procedures. The needle-through-needle technique remains the most commonly used method to perform CSE. Several technical variations including Sequential CSE and Epidural Volume Extention (EVE) are commonly used particularly in obstetric and high-risk patients such as those with cardiac disease where a slower onset of sympathetic block is desirable. The risks of complications such as epidural catheter migration through the dural hole, neurological complications, and subarachnoid spread of epidurally administered drugs are possible but have not been a clinically relevant problem in the 40+ years of their existence. In obstetrics, CSE is used for labor pain because it produces rapid-onset analgesia with reduced local anesthetic consumption and less motor block. The epidural catheter placed as part of a CSE is more reliable than a catheter placed as part of a conventional epidural. Less breakthrough pain throughout labor is noted and fewer catheters require replacing. Side effects of CSE include greater potential for hypotension and more fetal heart rate abnormalities. CSE is also used for cesarean delivery. The main purpose is to decrease the spinal dose so that spinal-induced hypotension can be reduced. However, reducing the spinal dose requires an epidural catheter to avoid intra-operative pain when surgery is prolonged.