COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PRE-PROCEDURE AND REAL TIME ULTRASOUNDGUIDED EPIDURALANAESTHESIA IN OBESE PATIENT.

Abstract

Background And Aims: Epidural anaesthesia is widely performed using a landmark-guided midline approach. The indistinct or distorted landmark is associated with obesity, previous spinal surgeries, deformities, or degenerative changes due to ageing. In the present study, we compared the efcacy of real-time ultrasound (RUS)-guided paramedian approach, and pre-procedure ultrasound (PUS) landmark-guided paramedian approach in obese patients. Methods: Sixty patients with body mass index (BMI) >30 kg/m2 were included in the study. The participants were randomly assigned to two groups : PUS and RUS group . The primary end point was to attain a successful placement of epidural catheter. Variables like the number of attempts, the number of passes, the time taken for identifying epidural space(s), and time taken for successful epidural catheter placement(s) were secondary end points and were recorded in both the groups. Results: The median number of attempts were 4 (IQR 2-4) and 2 (IQR 1-2), respectively, in the PUS and RUS group (P-value < 0.001). The median number of passes, the median time for identifying space, and the time for successful epidural catheter placement was statistically signicantly less in the RUS group, than the PUS group. Conclusion:The time taken for the identication of the space, the number of attempts, number of passes, and the time taken for successful epidural catheter placement was more in the PUS group as compared to the RUS group.