Knotting of a Cervical Epidural Catheter in the Patient with Post-Herpetic Neuralgia: A Rare Complication

Epidural block is achieved either by single injection of local anesthetic through an epidural needle or as a continuous block by infusion pump through an epidural catheter. Complications associated with epidural catheters include breakage, entrapment, and knotting. Knotting of epidural catheters is very rare, but knotting in lumbar epidural catheters has been reported in a number of studies, and most of these cases involved removal difficulty. We report a case in which we inserted a cervical epidural catheter in a patient who was experiencing severe post-herpetic neuralgia and then removed the knotted catheter without complications.