Infectious complications of epidural anaesthesia and analgesia.

Clinically overt infections of the epidural catheter skin entry site occur in approximately 5% of patients after a few days; deep catheter tract infections occur in approximately 5% of patients after more prolonged epidural analgesia. This indicates that potentially serious epidural infectious complications are ever-present risks of epidural anaesthesia and analgesia. This review focuses on risk factors and guidelines for routine epidural analgesia that may minimize the risks of serious infectious complications.

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