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Updated: Jul 5, 2025
Author Spotlight: Enhancing Success of Ultrasound-Guided Neuraxial Anesthesia in Cases with Difficult Anatomy
Published on: January 31, 2025
Evaluation of a modified ultrasound-assisted technique for mid-thoracic epidural placement: a prospective
Chanyan Huang1, Ying Chen1, Mengjia Kou1
1Department of Anesthesiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, No. 58, Zhongshan 2nd Road, Guangzhou, 510080, Guangdong, China.
Background:
Although mid-thoracic epidural analgesia benefits patients undergoing major surgery, technical difficulties often discourage its use. Improvements in technology are warranted to improve the success rate on first pass and patient comfort. The previously reported ultrasound-assisted technique using a generic needle insertion site failed to demonstrate superiority over conventional landmark techniques. A stratified needle insertion site based on sonoanatomic features may improve the technique.
Methods:
Patients who presented for elective abdominal or thoracic surgery requesting thoracic epidural analgesia for postoperative pain control were included in this observational study. A modified ultrasound-assisted technique using a stratified needle insertion site based on ultrasound images was adopted. The number of needle passes, needle skin punctures, procedure time, overall success rate, and incidence of procedure complications were recorded.
Results:
One hundred and twenty-eight subjects were included. The first-pass success and overall success rates were 75% (96/128) and 98% (126/128), respectively. In 95% (122/128) of patients, only one needle skin puncture was needed to access the epidural space. The median [IQR] time needed from needle insertion to access the epidural space was 59 [47-122] seconds. No complications were observed during the procedure.
Conclusions:
This modified ultrasound-assisted mid-thoracic epidural technique has the potential to improve success rates and reduce the needling time. The data shown in our study may be a feasible basis for a prospective study comparing our ultrasound-assisted epidural placements to conventional landmark-based techniques.
