[Cutaneous cerebrospinal fluid fistula associated with secondary puncture of the dura caused by a peridural catheter].

Prolonged liquor fistula following puncture of the subdural space for diagnostic or anaesthetic purposes has been reported repeatedly. These among other factors are held responsible for headache as well as neurological complications in connection with lumbar puncture. In contrast the appearance of an external liquor fistula in the lumbar region is an extremely rare event. Two patients developed a cutaneous liquor fistula after lumbar laminectomy following an inadvertant dural penetration when an epidural steroid injection was performed. The same occurred in a healthy young patient who had undergone several trials to puncture the epidural space for an epidural anaesthesia in a case of emergency cesarean section Our own observation concerns a 62 years old woman who developed a cutaneous cerebrospinal fluid fistula 12 h after the removal of an epidural catheter, which had caused a secondary perforation of the dura.