INTRODUCTION
Epidural analgesia is commonly used in addition to general anesthesia and to manage postoperative pain. Effective postoperative pain relief from epidural analgesia has numerous benefits including earlier ambulation, facilitating weaning from ventilators, reducing time spent in a catabolic state, and lowering circulating stress hormone levels.(1) Precise placement of epidural needles for single-injection techniques and catheters for continuous epidural anesthesia ensures that the dermatomes involved in the surgical procedure are selectively blocked, allowing for lower doses of local anesthetics to be used and sparing unnecessary blockade in nondesired regions. The approach to the epidural space can be at the caudal, lumbar, or thoracic level.