Introduction

Dr Blake Kizby is a consultant and estist at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney. An epidural involves placing a catheter into the epidural space. We do this using a loss of resistance technique with what's called a two-e needle which is a much larger needle than the spinal needles that we use. This allows us to give long lasting analgesia so unlike with the spinal we do not want to puncture the dura or enter the intrathecal space. So as usual we'll start with the case to illustrate important points to take home.