The efficacy of bupivacaine 0.75 per cent as an epidural test dose

Two cases are presented in which a test dose of bupivacaine 0.75 per cent was injected before institution of an epidural block, as a safeguard against inadvertent intrathecal injection. In each case there was immediate evidence of motor and sensory blockade, which gave warning that the epidural catheter was positioned in the subarachnoid space. The experience of these two cases indicates that bupivacaine 0.75 per cent would be appropriate for use as a test dose in epidural anaesthesia.