Epidural anaesthesia is a continuous technique, i.e. one whose duration can be extended. It is usually provided in addition to general anaesthesia, and is then usually continued to provide analgesia in the extended post-operative period. However, sometimes it is used as the sole means of anaesthesia, most commonly for caesarean section in a woman who already has a functioning labour epidural.

Before one can evaluate the relative merits of epidural anaesthesia when planning an anaesthetic, it is important to understand the features of the technique.

We will look in turn at the various factors influencing this decision:

• Anatomical sites amenable to surgery under epidural anaesthesia
• Advantages of epidural anaesthesia
• Disadvantages of epidural anaesthesia