Abstract
We examined whether the incidence of pruritus following the administration of epidural morphine during combined spinal and epidural anesthesia (CSE) differs according to the length of the epidural catheter inserted. We divided 40 patients who received obstetric or gynecological surgery into two groups according to the distance of epidural catheter : at 3 cm (CSE-3) and 6 cm (CSE-6). A larger number of patients in the CSE-3 group complained of pruritus (9 patients [45%]) significantly compared to the CSE-6 group (4 patients [20%]). There were no other significant differences between the two groups. We conclude that the incidence of pruritus produced by epidural morphine during CSE by single-place technique differs according to the length of the epidural catheter inserted, and recommend that the epidural catheter be inserted further into the epidural space.
