[The clinical usefulness and problem of combined spinal epidural needle]

The clinical usefulness of combined spinal-epidural needles, Portex Spinal/Epidural set (Pencil point tip type and Lancet point tip type), was evaluated on 30 patients undergoing orthopedic lower limb surgeries, hysterectomies or transurethral surgeries. In all the patients, the spinal-epidural needles were successfully inserted with paramedian approach without any problem. The time to appearance of cerebrospinal fluid in the spinal needle hub after removal of the stylet was 15-40 seconds, and no patient in both groups had postspinal headache. Following spinal anesthesia, the local anesthetics injected through the epidural catheter extended the analgesia in the range of 1-2 dermatomes higher in the Lancet point type group in comparison with Pencil point type group. It is possible that the hole in the dura may allow a transfer of local anesthetics into the subarachnoid space. The present study shows that combined spinal-epidural block is clinically useful, and the Pencil point type is safer than the Lancet point type.