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Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain: Brief Technical Reports
Real-Time Ultrasound-Assisted Thoracic Epidural Placement: A Feasibility Study of a Novel Technique
  1. Daniel J. Pak, MD* and
  2. Amitabh Gulati, MD†
  1. *Department of Anesthesiology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York–Presbyterian Hospital
  2. †Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
  1. Address correspondence to: Amitabh Gulati, MD, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Ave, New York, NY 10065 (e-mail: gulatia{at}mskcc.org).

Abstract

Abstract The placement of thoracic epidural catheters is complicated by the layering of the vertebral lamina. Therefore, traditional blind palpation techniques require insertion of an epidural needle with likely contact of lamina with redirections into the epidural space. We discuss a safe and consistent technique using true real-time ultrasound visualization of the needle with a paramedian sagittal oblique view to improve the consistency of placing an epidural in the thoracic spine for postoperative analgesia. Successful epidural placement was achieved in every patient. All catheters were found to be effective for use in the postoperative phase.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/AAP.0000000000000761

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    Footnotes

    • The authors have no sources of funding to declare for this article.

      This work was presented in part as an abstract at the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine's 42nd Annual Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine Meeting; April 6 to 8, 2017; San Francisco, CA.

      The authors declare no conflict of interest.