Epidural anesthesia in aortofemoral arteriography

The experience with a well-established regional anesthetic technique i.e., epidural anesthesia for alleviating pain during aortofemoral arteriogrpahy is described. Of 59 patients, 51 experienced no subjective or objective evidence of pain, while eight patients subjectively reported mild burning pain during injection of contrast. Apart from patient satisfaction, important additional benefits of epidural anesthesia were excellent filling of both distal small arteries and collateral vessels around obstructing arterial lesions. Complications were few and insignificant. It is concluded that epidural anesthesia is a safe procedure that not only eliminates pain, but also gives better quality radiographs.