[Case report: a 5-year-old girl with spinal, epidural empyema - an uncommon but successful therapy performed by anaesthetists in Malawi].

A five-year-old girl suffering from sepsis and acute paraplegia was diagnosed with spinal epidural empyema due to a superinfected tuberculous osteomyelitis of a vertebra. In the absence of a neurosurgeon the anaesthetists opted for an epidural procedure. To this effect they aspirated, drained and irrigated the epidural space on several levels via epidural Tuohy cannulas - followed by an antibiotic instillation.