• Régis Fuzier, Philippe Izard, Richard Aziza, and Jacques Pouymayou.
• Department of Anesthesiology, Institut Claudius Regaud, University Institute of Cancer Toulouse Oncopole (IUCT-O), 1 Avenue Irène Joliot-Curie, 31059, Toulouse Cedex, France. fuzier.r@gmail.com.
• J Anesth. 2016 Jun 1; 30 (3): 503-5.

AbstractA woman with a medical history of breast cancer presented with chronic pain of the right hemithorax. To alleviate pain, a continuous paravertebral block was performed using a pigtail end catheter, introduced using ultrasound visualization (transversal technique at the inferior articular process of T6). Complete pain relief was observed. A few hours later, urinary retention was diagnosed and discharge from the ambulatory setting was canceled. On the following day, a new injection of local anesthetics through the catheter triggered paresthesia in the contralateral leg and a new urinary retention was diagnosed. A CT scan confirmed the epidural misplacement of the catheter. The latter was withdrawn, and the patient was released to home after the complete disappearance of her neurological symptoms. This case report highlights the risk of inadvertently misplacing the catheter into the epidural space during thoracic paravertebral block, even with a "pigtail" distal end type of catheter.

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