腰・下肢痛に対する持続硬膜外ブロック

Continuous Epidural Block for Lumbar Radiculopathy

　腰下肢痛に対する硬膜外持続ブロック療法の満足度調査を行い，疼痛コントロールとしての同法の有効性と問題点について検討を行った．対象は67名で，アンケート回答者は45名であった．25名が満足，9名が不満と回答した．再施行希望者は16名と少なかった．本療法による症状の改善は67名中57名で得られ，うち53名は施行後3日以内に症状改善が認められ始めた．治療期間中に生じたトラブルはチューブの途中抜去が4例，頭痛，悪心が3例，下垂足が1例で，感染例はなかった．

　We report the effectiveness and problems involved in performing continuous epidural block for lumbar radiculopathy. Continuous epidural block was used in 67 patients (69 cases) at our hospital, and 45 patients filled out our questionnaire. Of them, 25 were satisfied with the results, and nine were not. Only 16 patients wished to be treated in the same manner again. There was improvement in 57 of the 69 cases, and 52 patients experienced pain relief within three days after the first injection. Complications consisted of tube trouble in four patients, headache and nausea in three patients, a footdrop seconday to lumbar disk hernia in one patient. There were no infections after this treatment.