Surface Landmarks in the Lateral Decubitus Position Are Unreliable for Thoracic Epidural Catheter Placement: A Case Series

Thoracic epidurals remain the optimal method for providing postoperative analgesia after complex open abdominal and thoracic surgeries. However, they can be challenging to both place and maintain, as evidenced by a failure rate that exceeds 30%.1 Proper identification of the epidural space and accur...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	A&A practice Vol. 16; no. 12; p. e01649
Main Authors:	Dobson, Sean W., Weller, Robert S., Turner, James D., Lack, Christopher M., Henshaw, Daryl S.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 01-12-2022
Subjects:	Analgesia, Epidural - methods Anesthesia, Epidural - methods Catheters Epidural Space Humans Thoracic Surgical Procedures
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Thoracic epidurals remain the optimal method for providing postoperative analgesia after complex open abdominal and thoracic surgeries. However, they can be challenging to both place and maintain, as evidenced by a failure rate that exceeds 30%.1 Proper identification of the epidural space and accurate placement of the catheter are critical in order to deliver effective postoperative analgesia and avoid failure.2,3 This case series investigated the difficulty in correctly identifying the proper vertebral level for thoracic epidural catheter procedures when performed in the lateral decubitus position.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	2575-3126 2575-3126
DOI:	10.1213/XAA.0000000000001649