Korean J Anesthesiol.  1995 Oct;29(4):569-572. 10.4097/kjae.1995.29.4.569.

Horner`s Syndrome after Epidural Anesthesia

• Kim HJ
• Lee SC
• Do SH

• KMID: 2145902
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4097/kjae.1995.29.4.569

Abstract

Neurologic complications associated with epidural anesthesia are rare. Recently, we experienced 2 cases of of Horner's syndrome which occurred after lumbar and thoracic epidural anesthesia. In the first case, 30-year-old woman underwent cesarean section under lumbar epidural anesthesia with 20 ml of 2% and 10 ml of 1% lidocaine. One hundred minutes after epidural injection, she was found to have developed incomplete Horners syndrome on the left side. The cutaneous anesthesia level reached C7 on the left and T2 on the right side. We tried to identify the location of the catheter tip with 3 ml of contrast dye and its location was the epidural space of a third lumbar vertebral body. Horner's syndrome disappeared five hours later. In the second case, young healthy woman underwent the excisional biopsy of the breast mass under thoracic epidural anesthesia. She developed complete Horner's syndrome which disappeared three hours later on the right side with T3 cutaneous anesthesia level. We postulated that the cause of these syndromes was an excessive upward epidural extension of local anesthetics.

Keyword

Epidural anesthesia; Complications; Horner`s syndrome

MeSH Terms

Adult
Anesthesia
Anesthesia, Epidural*
Anesthetics, Local
Biopsy
Breast
Catheters
Cesarean Section
Epidural Space
Female
Horner Syndrome
Humans
Injections, Epidural
Lidocaine
Pregnancy
Anesthetics, Local
Lidocaine