Advantages

The advantages are simply that the patient is free of pain. Even after an operation, the pain can be eliminated, the patient is thus faster on his legs and rehabilitation can be achieved more quickly. Gentle behaviour or a relieving posture in the affected body part is avoided, which means that normal function can be restored more quickly. For example, patients breathe normally again more quickly after a lung operation and receive sufficient oxygen when the pain has been anaesthetised by means of a catheter.

Disadvantages

Pain serves to perceive the processes in our body and is always a warning signal. If this warning signal is switched off, it can happen that complications remain unnoticed for a longer period of time after an operation or that the patient strains himself too much too early. For epidural anesthesia during birth, this also means that the contractions, which have their purpose in the natural birth process, are also switched off.

Although this is pleasant for the mother on the one hand, it can also lead to a longer-lasting birth. The baby stays longer in the birth canal, the birth becomes more strenuous and the baby reacts with increasing stress levels. This can lead to a standstill of the birth, so that the baby has to be fetched with the suction cup.

Complications

As with any medical procedure, complications or side effects can occur with the PDA. Common side effects are infections, allergy to the anesthetic, itching and bleeding. Bleeding or bruising in the peridural space (peridural hematoma) can, in the worst case, exert pressure on the spinal cord and constrict it.

This can temporarily lead to paraplegia and must then be treated surgically. If the needle is pushed too far forward during the puncture, so that the inner hard skin of the spinal cord is also punctured, the needle may cause injury to the spinal cord. With an epidural in the lumbar region, urinary retention can occur if the nerves for supplying the bladder are also affected. In order to drain the congested urine, a urinary catheter may then have to be inserted. However, a warm feeling in the legs when the anaesthetic is introduced is normal.