What is an epidural catheter?
Epidural catheters, called “epidurals” for short, are tiny tubes that deliver pain medicine directly into your epidural space. This space is the area in your back around your spinal cord. Epidurals are often used during childbirth. But they may also be used for pain control during and after certain types of surgery, such as hip, knee, or gynecologic surgery. Epidural anesthesia will numb you for surgery so that you do not feel pain. After surgery, pain medicine given this way usually provides better pain control than medicines given through a vein or by mouth. You may have one or two types of pain medicines given through an epidural. Analgesics relieve pain by decreasing the number of pain signals from your surgery site to your brain. They do not affect your muscles or your ability to move. Fentanyl and morphine are common analgesic medicines. Anesthetics numb or dull feeling in a specific part of your body. They do affect your muscles and your ability to move. They also lower your blo
