Placing a Lumbar Epidural Catheter (2018)

Placement of a catheter in the lumbar epidural space allows for the administration of analgesic and local anesthetic agents to a series of dorsal- and ventral-nerve roots that exit the spinal cord and traverse the epidural space, thereby providing anesthesia or analgesia to specific nerve-root distributions. This supplement to the video reviews the indications for and contraindications to the placement of a lumbar epidural catheter, the necessary materials and equipment, the relevant anatomy, and placement technique.