Audiovisual Assessment After Dural Puncture During Epidural Placement in Obstetric Patients

The study involves assessment of hearing and visual complications along with headache after accidental dural puncture in patients receiving epidurals. Hearing loss will be assessed by clinical examination and audiometry testing, while visual complications will be assessed by clinical examination. The patients will receive standard treatment for headache in the form of drugs and if required an epidural blood patch ( injecting patient's blood in the epidural space). The course of these complications and response to treatment will be investigated over a period of time. Audiometry results from patients with dural puncture will be compared to those of patients who also had epidurals, but without a dural puncture. The investigators hypothesize that audiovisual complications occur more frequently in patients having accidental dural puncture with epidural needle and that the symptoms resolve with the administration of epidural blood patch.