Epidural Anesthesia and Analgesia

The practice of epidural anesthesia/analgesia requires good knowledge of anatomic references of the sacrum-coccygeal region, as well as previous training in the technique of epidural injection. This chapter tabulates the summary of drugs and doses used for epidural anesthesia and analgesia in horses. Immobilization of the horse is mandatory to make the epidural injection procedure smooth and safer for patient and personnel. Locate the point of insertion of the needle and desensitize the point of injection for caudal epidural anesthesia and analgesia. Long-term epidural analgesia with repeated administration of analgesics is best managed by placing an epidural catheter into the epidural canal. Analgesia is also produced by direct action on alpha-2 receptors in the neurons of the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. Opioids can be associated with alpha-2 agonists and local anesthetics. Ketamine acts as a non-competitive antagonist on N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors located in the spinal cord.