• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.279-282
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• 1996

A 45-year-old male received cervical continuous epidural block for posterior neck pain radiating to right upper extremity secondary to cervical herniated nucleus pulposus. Three days after epidural catheterization, fever, radicular pain and weakness of both upper extremities were developed. On admission, his temperature was $38.3^{\circ}C$ and showed progressive weakness and numbness in both upper and lower extremities. Cervical epidural abscess was suspected; MRI showed an epidural abscess from C4 to C7 level. Within 24 hours of admission, surgical decompression and drainage was effected. Culture of pus obtained at the lesion yielded Staphylococcus aureus. He was treated with intravenous antibiotics for 7 weeks resulting marked improvement of neurologic signs and symptoms.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.304-307
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• 1997

Continuous epidural infusion, a combination of local anesthetic and opioid, have been widely administered for treatment of chronic cancer pain. A serious complications of epidural block is paraplegia which can also be caused by : direct spinal cord injury, epidural hematoma, epidural abscess, ischemic change, neurotoxicity, preexisting disease. Continuous epidural block for pain control of patient with cervical cancer was performed at $T_{12}/L_1$ interspace. A 4 cm catheter was inserted cephalad into the epidural space. After four months, back pain and motor weariless of lower extremities progressively developed. Spine CT showed bony destruction and soft mass-like lesion at $T_9$ & $T_{12}$ spine. We propose paraplegia was caused by spinal cord compression which resulted from vertebral metastasis of cervical cancer.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.344-348
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• 1996

Continuous epidural block can be useful in the management of acute and chronic pain. For the most effective analgesia, it is important to localize the tip of epidural catheter and the spread of radiopaque dye. Epidural catheterization was performed in 12 patients on the sitting position. Catheters were advanced by 10 cm cephalad in the cervical epidural space by median approach and radiopaque dye 3 ml was injected through the catheters. The position of cervical epidural catheters and the spread of dye was confirmed by radiography. The course of epidural catheter were: coiled 3/12 (25%), loop 2/12 (16.7%), straight 2/12 (16.7%). In 8 cases, the tip of epidural catheters were located within one vertebral segment from the level of insertion site. Radiopaque dye spreaded average 3.68 vertebral segment to cranially and 1.67 vertebral segment to caudally from the insertion site.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.140-143
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• 1999

Ramsay-Hunt syndrome is a related but more serious disorder caused by herpes zoster viral infection of the geniculate ganglion. It is characterized by unilateral painful vesicular rash of the uvula, palate, auricle, ear canal, and postauricular area, but it can extend into the facial tissues as well. Paralysis of the facial nerve is often seen, and there can be disequilibrium and hearing problems also. We experienced continuous cervical epidural block (CCEB) with intermittent stellate ganglion block is effective in Ramsay-Hunt syndrome. CCEB should be considered to the treatment of choice in Ramsay-Hunt syndrome.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.298-303
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• 1995

We have inserted epidural catheter for single or continuous injection of a drug for epidural analgesia. It is important to localize the tip of epidural catheter in appropriate site to acquire the most effective analgesia. In epidural block, we observed course and location of the tip of epidural catheter. Subject: 70 patients were divided into group I(non-injection of saline group during catheter insertion) and group II(injection group during catheter insertion). Group I included cervical(n=20), thoracic(n=10), and lumbar(n=20) epidural group. Group II, cervical(n=10), and lumbar(n=10) epidural group. Method: 19G FlexTip $Plus^{TM}$ Epidural Catheter ($Arrow^{(R)}$) was inserted 10cm cephaladly in epidural space with(group II) or without(group I) saline flushing. We observed course and location of the tip of epidural catheter by C-arm image intensifier during injection of contrast media ($Omnipaque^{(R)}$). Result: In group I, the number of tips of epidural catheters located within 2 cm from inserted site were: cervical 14/20(70%), thoracic 2/10(20%). lumbar 16/20(80%). In thoracic epidural blocks, tips of epidural catheters were more cephaladly located than with cervical and lumbar epidural blocks. With cervical epidural blocks, the number of tips of epidural catheters located within 2 cm from insertion site were less in group II than group I (20% vs. 70%). But no significant differences were noted between group I and group II with lumbar epidural block(90% vs. 80%). The number of tips of epidural catheters located around a predicted site were: cervical 2/20(10%), thoracic 4/10(40%), lumbar 0/20(0%) in group I, and cervical 2/10(20%), lumbar 1/10(10%) in group II. Conclusion: It was impossible to predict the exact location of tips of epidural catheters by measuring the inserted length without epidurogram. With many cases, tips of epidural catheters were located around the insertion site in lumbar epidural blocks, and in some cases around the predicted site in thoracic epidural blocks. The results suggests that epidural block should be done at a point near the required band of analgesia.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.127-130
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• 1995

A 34 year old male patient visited to our neuro-pain clinic with symtoms of a left frontal headache, eyeball throbbing and occipital pain. Two days after the first visit to our clinic. pain was aggrevated and the skin eruption appeared on the left forehead. He was diagnosed as raving Herpes Zoster Opthalmicus(HZO). We performed stellate ganglion block(SGB), but pain did not subsid. So a continuous cervical epidural block was perfomed(CCEB) and it could relieve the pain promptly. In this case, VAS(visual analogue scale) was diminished from 10 to 3 and the skin eruption was healed 24 days after the treatment with CCEB and SGB. We experienced that CCEB is more effective rather than intermittent SGB in intractable HZO. CCEB should be considered to the treatment of choice in patients with HZO.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.169-171
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• 2011

Postherpetic neuralgia is the most frequent complication of herpes zoster. Treatment of this neuropathic pain syndrome is difficult and often disappointing. Although postherpetic neuralgia is generally a self-limited condition, it can last indefinitely. Continuous epidural blockade for patients with acute zoster can shorten the duration of treatment. However, continuous epidural block has some complications such as infection, dural puncture, and total spinal and nerve damages. We report a case of myoclonus during continuous epidural block with ropivacaine, morphine, and ketamine in an acute zoster patient.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.63-68
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• 1996

Background; Epidural analgesia for controlling labor pain has recently gained world-wide popularity. However, many patients scheduled for continuous epidural analgesia voice concern over harmful effects to their fetus and other possible complications such as hemodynamic changes, back pain and neurologic sequelae etc. The aim of this study was to evaluate the hemodynamic changes with and without epidural block as a measure to determine the safety of epidural analgesia during labor and delivery. Methods: Twenty healthy subjects were divided equally into two groups(Group 1 without epidural block, and Group 2 with epidural block) and serial hemodynamic measurements were taken in all subjects with transcutaneous impedence cardiography. The epidural catheter was inserted at the level of $L_{3,4}$ in Group 2 and analgesia was maintained using 0.25% bupivacaine mixed with fentanyl. Results: Cardiac output increased slightly with cervical dilatation in both groups, but no significant differences were found between the two groups. Similarly, no significant differences were found in blood pressures between the two groups. Stroke volume and end-diastolic volume indices were slightly decreased in group 1 and slightly increased in group 2. However, there were no significant differences between the two groups. The ejection fraction was nearly constant and ranging 56~59%. Conclusion: We concluded epidural analgesia for labor and delivery is a safe technique for the parturients since results indicated no significant differences in hemodynamic changes, as compared to the control group.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.97-100
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• 1997

We treated a 56 year old male ailing of painful herpetic eruption on his 2nd, 3rd and 4th left cervical spinal segment. On the 18th day, patient also suffered an abrupt left facial palsy, accompanied with ongoing postherpetic neuralgia even though the skin eruption had been cured. This patient visited our pain clinic on his 46th day of illness and was teated with continuous cervical epidural block for 9 days, and stellate ganglion block plus oral analgesics and antidepressant for 12 days. The combination of treatments resulted in marked improvement of facial palsy and postherpetic neuralgia. A possible explanation of facial palsy accompanied with herpes zoster on cervical spinal segment could be related to Hunt's hypothesis that geniculate ganglion forms a chain connecting the high cervical ganglion below. Another possibility may be related to a compression injury of the facial nerve by long-term severe edema on the soft tissue of the face, the periauricular area and parotid gland around the facial nerve, and edema on the facial nerve itself emerging out from the cranium.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2015

Background: Arthroscopic shoulder operations (ASS) are often associated with severe postoperative pain. Nerve blocks have been studied for pain in shoulder surgeries. Interscalene brachial plexus blocks (ISB) and an intra-articular injection (IA) have been reported in many studies. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effect of ISB, a continuous cervical epidural block (CCE) and IA as a means of postoperative pain control and to study the influence of these procedures on postoperative analgesic consumption and after ASS. Methods: Fifty seven patients who underwent ASS under general anesthesia were randomly assigned to one of three groups: the ISB group (n = 19), the CCE group (n = 19), and the IA group (n = 19). Patients in each group were evaluated on a postoperative numerical rating scale (NRS), their rescue opioid dosage (ROD), and side effects. Results: Postoperative NRSs were found to be higher in the IA group than in the ISB and CCE groups both at rest and on movement. The ROD were $1.6{\pm}2.3$, $3.0{\pm}4.9$ and $7.1{\pm}7.9$ mg morphine equivalent dose in groups CCE, ISB, and IA groups (P = 0.001), respectively, and statistically significant differences were noted between the CCE and IA groups (P = 0.01) but not in between the ISB and CCE groups. Conclusions: This prospective, randomized study demonstrated that ISB is as effective analgesic technique as a CCE for postoperative pain control in patients undergoing ASS.