[Is posterior lumbar epidural space partitioned?].

The anatomy of the posterior lumbar epidural space (PLES) has been extensively studied. Besides the anatomists, surgeons, radiologists and anaesthetists have taken an interest in this. However, because each one has considered the PLES from his own specialist field, descriptions are not always concordant.

[Evaluation of obstetrical pain by a questionnaire of adjectives. Comparison of 2 epidural analgesia protocols].

A French version of the McGill pain questionnaire, the "Questionnaire Douleur Saint Antoine" (QDSA), was assessed prospectively by comparing two epidural analgesia protocols using bupivacaine. One hundred women in labour who asked for epidural analgesia were randomly allocated to two groups and received either 0.25% or 0.

[Complications of local and regional anesthesia. An analysis of closed files of insurance companies].

We report a review of closed insurance claims for local and regional anaesthesia mishaps in the main private professional insurance companies. Twenty eight cases with extensive written documentation were discovered, spanning a 6 years interval between 1983 and 1989, involving 21 epidural, 6 spinal and 1 caudal anaesthesias, half with surgical and half obstetrical indication, and excluding all other blocks. Twenty four out of the 28 patients were relatively healthy.

Ventilatory response to carbon dioxide during extradural anaesthesia with lignocaine and fentanyl.

Twenty-seven patients undergoing extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy or knee arthroscopy received extradural anaesthesia with 2% lignocaine plus adrenaline 1 in 200,000. They were allocated randomly to three groups, one receiving no fentanyl (n = 6), the two others receiving fentanyl 50 micrograms either extradurally (n = 15) or i.v.