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PAIN MEDICINE

Epidural Anesthesia for Laminectomy Lead Placement in Spinal Cord Stimulation

María Luisa García-Pérez, MD^*, Rafael Badenes, MD^*, Guillermo García-March, MD, PhD, Vicente Bordes, MD, and Francisco Javier Belda, MD, PhD^*

From the Departments of *Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Management, and Neurosurgery, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valencia, Avda, Blasco Ibañez 17, 46010 Valencia, Spain.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Rafael Badenes, C/Cuenca 23-38 Valencia, 46007, Spain. Address e-mail to Rafael.Badenes{at}uv.es.

BACKGROUND: Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is used to treat chronic pain and requires an awake patient for optimized lead positioning to locate paresthesias. Epidural anesthesia may be a suitable anesthetic but has not been evaluated.

METHODS: We performed an open-label, prospective, observational, single-center study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of laminectomy lead placement under epidural anesthesia for the treatment of neuropathic chronic pain.

RESULTS: The results in our study demonstrate that epidural anesthesia is a suitable technique for SCS lead implant.

CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study using epidural anesthesia for SCS lead implants by laminectomy. The technique seems to be safe and effective.