Epidermal anesthesia for laminectomy lead placement in spinal cord stimulation

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. (Anesth Analg 2007;105:1458-61)