Epidural anesthesia for obstetrics after spinal surgery.

The experience of 18 patients with previous spinal surgery who requested epidural anesthesia for obstetric pain was reviewed. Three received epidural anesthetics in two separate pregnancies, producing a total of 21 attempts at epidural anesthesia. All were initiated during labor and three were later extended for Cesarean delivery. Continuous lumbar epidural anesthesia was successfully established in 20 of 21 attempts. Ten were performed easily on the first attempt. There were excessive local anesthetic requirements and/or a patchy block for the remaining 11 attempts. The only complication that could be attributed to the attempts at epidural anesthesia was temporary low back pain in two patients with multiple attempts. No complications were noted on long-term follow-up. Our data, therefore, suggest that epidural anesthesia is safe and generally effective in obstetric patients with previous spinal surgery.