Full-Endoscopic Removal of Sheared Lumbar Epidural Catheter Fragment.

BACKGROUND

An epidural nerve block injection is the most common modality of treatment for control of low backache associated with radiating pain. Epidural catheter injections are also widely used by pain physicians to control cancer pain. Epidural catheters could be associated with procedure-related complications, such as epidural hematoma, epidural abscess, and post-dural puncture headache, and rare complications, such as shearing or breakage of the catheter tip. In this report, we describe the full-endoscopic removal of a sheared epidural catheter fragment.

CASE DESCRIPTION: A man aged 24 years presented with low backache radiating to his left leg with numbness and weakness. Left-sided L4-L5 disc herniation was diagnosed on magnetic resonance imaging, and the patient was posted for an epidural nerve block. The epidural catheter broke during removal, and a 4-cm fragment was retained in the epidural space. We performed an interlaminar full-endoscopic removal of the sheared epidural catheter. Postoperatively, the patient reported excellent clinical outcome.

CONCLUSIONS

Interlaminar full-endoscopic procedure could be used for the removal of the retained epidural catheter as a practical option.