Labor analgesia for the morbidly obese parturient: an old problem--new solution

Morbid obesity is perhaps the most common nutritional disorder seen in pregnancy, and morbidly obese parturients have more pregnancy complication than normal body mass index (BMI) pregnant patients. Combined spinal epidural anesthesia (CSEA) has become a well-established alternative to epidural analgesia for labor pain in many institutions. However, due to lack of an appropriately long needle design, its advantages have not been routinely available to laboring morbidly obese patients.

I herein, present a case of a morbidly obese parturient whose labor analgesia was managed with CSEA administered with the newly released, commercially available, CSEA needle set, specifically designed for morbidly obese patients.