A forty-eight year-old woman receives epidural anesthesia for vaginal hysterectomy.

 In the recovery room, a fentanyl infusion was begun epidurally for relief of postoperative pain.

About six hours later, she began to complain of nausea and had two episodes of vomiting.

case author: Hugh S. Mathewson, M.D., Professor Emeritus, School of Allied Health, Department of Nurse Anesthesia, University of Kansas Medical Center
case editor: Michael Gordon, Ph.D.