Safety and efficacy of epidural analgesia in spine surgery.

Over the last 4 years, the authors have had experience with epidural analgesia for a variety of spinal operations in 24 patients. It has proved to be safe, reliable, and effective. No patient has had a new neurological deficit as a result of the epidural technique, and 18 of 22 patients with neurological deficit improved. Thus, epidural analgesia should not be excluded from the anesthesiologist's consideration simply because of the presence of spine disease or neurological deficit.