Assessment of a new disposable introducer for spinal needles

The compatibility between spinal needles and their introducers varies between manufacturers and can significantly influence the usable length of the spinal needle available resulting in failure to locate CSF in larger patients. The usable length of 90-mm pencil point spinal needles from four manufacturers ranged from 68 to 79 mm when the needle was used in combination with its introducer. A new purpose-built introducer needle is described which, when used with a 25 g or finer spinal needle, maximises the usable length of the needle. Using this new introducer the usable needle length of a 90-mm Whitacre needle was increased by a further 7 to 86 mm resulting in only a 4 mm loss of total needle length. The new introducer was well received by users.