Cervical epidural analgesia for a cancer child at home

F Veyckemans1, J L Scholtes, J Ninane

  • 1Department of Anesthesiology, Catholic University of Louvain Medical School, Cliniques Universitaires St. Luc, Brussels, Belgium.

A cervical epidural catheter was placed in a 32-month-old girl suffering from painful bone metastases of a relapsing neuroblastoma in the left forearm. This therapeutic approach was chosen because oral morphine had failed to provide analgesia while producing intolerable side effects. The epidural injection of a mixture of morphine and bupivacaine provided complete analgesia with no side effects. This enabled the parents to take care of their child at home until the end, 35 days later.

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