Lumbar epidurals are frequently inserted for women in labour as they provide excellent analgesia. One of the more common procedural complications is post-dural puncture headache which can be associated with auditory symptoms such as hearing loss and tinnitus and can be treated with an epidural blood patch. Sphenopalatine ganglion blocks have also been used to treat post-dural puncture headache but have not been previously shown to resolve the associated tinnitus. We report a case where postural neck pain and tinnitus from an accidental dural puncture during lumbar epidural insertion for labour analgesia was treated successfully with a sphenopalatine ganglion block. Further, we explore the literature on the cause of tinnitus in post-dural puncture headache and the possible mechanism by which a sphenopalatine ganglion block relieves both post-dural puncture headache and the associated tinnitus.
Keywords: dural puncture; epidural; headache; sphenopalatine ganglion block; tinnitus.
© 2021 Association of Anaesthetists.