Epidural Analgesia and Subcutaneous Heparin 3 Times Daily in Cancer Patients With Acute Postoperative Pain

The use of epidural analgesia in conjunction with subcutaneous administration of unfractionated heparin 3 times per day could increase the risk of spinal epidural hematoma, but insufficient patient experience data exist to determine this. We retrospectively reviewed the incidence of spinal epidural hematoma in 3705 cases at our institution over a 7-year period of patients receiving acute postoperative epidural analgesia and heparin 3 times per day. No cases of spinal epidural hematoma were reported (95% CI, 0–0.0009952). Accepted for publication May 23, 2018. Funding: None. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Reprints will not be available from the authors. Address correspondence to Jackson Su, MD, Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Unit 409, 1515 Holcombe Blvd, Houston, TX 77030. Address e-mail to jsu@mdanderson.org. © 2018 International Anesthesia Research Society

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