Introduction: The ideal regimen for safe and effective post operative pain relief inspinal surgery remains elusive. Numerous studies have been conducted comparing epidural with patient controlled analgesia with no firm conclusion as to which is best.

Aims: To determine the efficacy of acute pain relief between surgical placed epidural catheter and patient controlled analgesia for lumbar spinal surgery.

Method: A 42 month retrospective survey of 82 spinal surgery patients case notes and anaesthetic charts performed by a consultant spinal surgeon and his registrar from 2002 to 2005. There were 34 epidural and 48 PCA patients. Visual analogue Score (0–10) at 6 hourly intervals up to 36 hours, complications and age of patient were looked at. Exclusion criteria for epidural were dural tear, history of hypotension, unexplained neurological symptoms, and bleeding disorders and surgeon choice. Epidural infusion consisted of bupivacaine 0.1% with 5mls loading dose and 10mls/ hour infusion and PCA consisted of morphine sulphate 2mg/ml with a 1ml loading dose and 5 minute lockout interval.All patients were on standard analgesia which included oromorph 5mg four hourly orally and paracetamol 1gram six hourly as required orally. No radiographic evidence of epidural catheter placement was performed. Post-operative complications which included hypotension, nausea, vomiting, and drowsiness were monitored.

Results: The average age for the epidural group was 46.9 and PCA group 49.8. The most striking finding was that the average pain score at each six hourly interval waslower in the epidural group. This was significant in the first 18 hours post-operatively.However, 3 complications occurred in the epidural group which included hypotension. In addition, 3 epidural infusions were stopped and changed to PCA most likely due to improper placement of catheter. There were no complications with the PCA group.

Conclusion: This observational study demonstrates clinically and statistically that in the acute post-operative phase and up to 36 hours that epidural analgesia for lumbar spine surgery is more effective than PCA. From this survey, the risk of epidural was higher, although no serious complications occurred. Surgeon placement of catheter is also important in the effective delivery of epidural pain relief. The lower efficacy of the PCA may have been due to poor patient understanding of the concept of PCA and thereforeits