Unintended Dural Puncture After Epidural Steroid Injection for Labor Analgesia

Dural puncture after labor epidural placement occurs in up to 1.5% of parturients.¹ Many factors have been hypothesized that might put a patient at risk for dural puncture, such as a large needle gauge and patient position during placement. However, a history of prior epidural steroid injections has not been investigated as a risk factor in the current literature.

Epidural steroid injections are the most commonly performed intervention in pain clinics in the