LAUSR

BACKGROUND An epidural nerve block injection is the most common modality of treatment for control of low backache associated with radiating pain. Epidural catheter injections are also widely used by pain physicians to control cancer pain. Epidural catheters are associated with complications like epidural hematoma, epidural abscess, post-dural puncture headache, and rare ones like shearing or breakage of the catheter tip. In this report, we describe the full-endoscopic removal of a sheared epidural catheter fragment. CASE DESCRIPTION A 24-year old man presented with low backache radiating to his left leg with numbness and weakness. Left-sided L4-L5 disc herniation was diagnosed on MRI, and the patient was posted for an epidural nerve block. The epidural catheter broke during removal, and a 4-cm fragment was retained in the epidural space. We performed an inter-laminar full-endoscopic removal of the sheared epidural catheter. Post-operatively patient reported excellent clinical outcome. CONCLUSIONS Inter-laminar full-endoscopic procedure could be used for the removal of the retained epidural catheter as a practical option.