Epidural Catheter Replacement Rates With Dural Puncture Epidural Labor Analgesia Compared With Epidural Analgesia Without Dural Puncture: A Retrospective Cohort Study

• Published in: Obstetric anesthesia digest Vol. 43; no. 3; p. 151
• Main Authors: Berger, A.A., Jordan, J., Li, Y., Kowalczyk, J.J., Hess, P.E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-09-2023
• ISSN: 0275-665X
• DOI: 10.1097/01.aoa.0000946420.26167.a1

( Int J Obstet Anesth . 2022;52:103590) Lumbar epidural analgesia (LEA) is a common method of labor analgesia. Traditional LEA, dural-puncture epidural (DPE), and combined spinal-epidural analgesia (CSE) are approaches to epidural catheter placement. Epidural catheters are known to malfunction following placement (12% to 13%), requiring replacement or conversion to general anesthesia (GA) if failure occurs during emergency intrapartum cesarean delivery (CD). Factors contributing to placement failure include body mass index (BMI) or weight, procedure type (CSE vs. LEA), gestational age, anesthesiologist experience, type of epidural catheter, patient age, and mode of delivery. Few studies have compared catheter failure rates between LEA and CSE. This retrospective analysis compares epidural catheter failure rates of DPE or LEA.