Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 11, 2026

Spinal Sonography for Ultrasound-Guided Lumbar Neuraxial Anesthesia
Published on: January 31, 2025
Ultrasound provides a reliable test of local anesthetic spread
Colin J L McCartney1, Victoria Dickinson, Adam Dubrowski
1Department of Anesthesia, University of Toronto, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, 2075 Bayview Ave, Toronto, Ontario M4N3M5, Canada. colin.mccartney@utoronto.ca
Background And Objectives:
We predicted that practitioners could identify injectate spread in a model of ultrasound-guided peripheral nerve block.
Methods:
Both novices and experts in ultrasound-guided peripheral nerve block were asked to recognize the spread of local anesthetic in a gelatin ultrasound phantom. In a blinded and randomized fashion, these participants were observed to either successfully or unsuccessfully state whether an injection had been made.
Results:
Twelve novices and 8 experts each completed the trials. Accuracy, Sensitivity and specificity were calculated for all trials. Users attained a very high accuracy and sensitivity (> 85%) as well as specificity (> 90%) with ultrasound in this model.
Conclusions:
This study shows that ultrasound is a reliable method of detecting injectate spread in a gelatin phantom model.
Related Concept Videos
Local Anesthetics: Clinical Application as Surface, Infiltration, and Conduction Block Anesthesia
Local Anesthetics: Differential Sensitivity of Nerve Fibers
Local Anesthetics: Clinical Application as Spinal Anesthesia
Local Anesthetics: Clinical Application as Epidural Anesthesia
Since epidural anesthetics can be infused through an epidural catheter, all types of drugs, including short-acting ones, can be administered. Chloroprocaine and lidocaine are examples of short and long-duration anesthetics, respectively. Bupivacaine...
Local Anesthetics: Clinical Application as Intravenous Regional Anesthesia
One of the advantages of...
Local Anesthetics: Pharmacokinetics
