What are the risks of Spinal and Epidural anesthesia?
The risks for Spinal and Epidural anesthesia may include low blood pressure, which is the reason the patient is routinely hydrated prior to the placement of either of these forms of anesthesia. Some of the time it is necessary to treat it with medication this is regularly by the anesthesiologist. Postdural puncture headache occurs infrequently with these techniques. The risks is 1% with Epidurals and 3% with Spinals. This is believed to be due to a leak of cerebrospinal fluid from the needle hole in the dura. The occurrence of this is greatly reduced by using a smaller needle when possible. If this headache does occur it may be treated initially with hydration and pain medicines. If the headache does not resolve it would be treated with an epidural blood patch. This is essentially using the patients own blood to block the leak via the epidural technique. Backache is an infrequent problem. It most likely is due to ligament strain due to profound muscle relaxation or surgical positioning
