Bupivacaine pleural effusion mimicking a hemothorax after a thoracoscopic microdiscectomy with epidural anesthesia

Post-operative pain after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery is often treated using thoracic epidural analgesics or thoracic paravertebral analgesics. This article describes a case where a thoracic disc herniation is treated with a thoracoscopic microdiscectomy with post-operative thoracic epidural analgesics. The patient developed a bupivacaine pleural effusion which mimicked a hemothorax on computed tomography (CT).

The presence of bupivacaine in the pleural effusion was confirmed using a high performance liquid chromatography method.

The patient underwent a re-exploration to relieve the pleural effusion. The patient showed a long-term recovery similar to what can be expected from an uncomplicated thoracoscopic microdiscectomy.

A pleural effusion may occur when thoracic epidural analgesics are used in patents with a corridor between the pleural cavity and epidural space.