[Catheterized peridural anesthesia as a procedure for intra- and postoperative pain therapy in chemonucleolysis]

In 13 patients scheduled for intradiscal therapy with chymopapain we performed continuous lumbar epidural anaesthesia as a method of intra- and postoperative pain relief. In all patients epidural anaesthesia provided a sufficient analgesia by the use of bupivacaine 0.75% intraoperatively. In contrast to chemonucleolysis under general anaesthesia only half of the patients needed postoperative pain therapy, which was achieved by the epidural injection of bupivacaine 0.25%.