What Is An Epidural & What Are The Safety Risks?
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An Epidural refers to the process in which an anesthesia is injected into a part of the spine known as the epidural space. An epidural is often used during childbirth to block the transmission of pain signals to the brain.
There are a variety of side effects that can occur with an epidural. The three main side effects include:
- a loss of muscle power.
- a loss of sensation in other areas of the body.
- a loss of function in the sympathetic nervous system, which can affect blood pressure.
There are also a variety of safety risks that can occur with an epidural. These include:
- an accidental puncture of the dural space. If the dural space is punctured, this can lead to prolonged headache that lasts for days, weeks, or months. This puncture can generally be treated, although most will resolve by themselves. This occurs in around 1% of people who have an epidural.
- a bloody tap. This refers to an injury of a vein with the epidural needle. Generally speaking, the would will clot and there will be no other problems.
- failure of the block. In about 5% of cases, the pain relief will not be adequate. In these cases, another epidural is generally administered.
- placement of the catheter in a vein. If the catheter that delivers the anesthetic is placed into a vein, the anesthetic may be injected intravenously, which can be toxic.
- nervous system damage. In some cases, an epidural may damage the nervous system. This occurs in around 1 out of every 10,000 cases.
- formation of an abscess. This occurs in about 1 out of every 50,000 cases.
- paralysis or paraplegia. Occurs in about 1 out of 100,000 cases.
- death. This is extremely rare, occurring less than 1 in 100,000 cases.
Because of these risks, many women have chosen to use either different medications or even non-medical pain management techniques to manage their pain during labor.
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