To the Editor:—We read with interest the article by Langesæter et al. that investigated the hemodynamic effects of a low-dose versus a higher-dose bupivacaine spinal anesthesia for cesarean delivery. While the LiDCOplus (LiDCO Ltd., Cambridge, United Kingdom) monitor for continuous hemodynamic measurements seems promising because of its minimal invasiveness, the use of low-dose bupivacaine for ...

The choice of using air or saline in epidural syringes during the loss-of-resistance technique, for identifying the epidural space, has been based largely on personal preference of the anesthesia provider. A survey of practice in the United Kingdom, thought to be similar to practice in the United States, revealed that the majority of anesthesia providers use air. Case reports have appeared in t...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Epidural anesthesia is a widely used procedure nowadays. Accidental subdural anesthesia after epidural puncture is an uncommon complication. This report aimed at describing two cases of subdural injection which coincidentally have happened in consecutive anesthesias induced by the same anesthesiologist. CASE REPORTS Case 1: Male patient, 41 years old, physical status...

BACKGROUND Accidental dural puncture during epidural blockade is a rare complication. Since postdural puncture headache (PDPH) is the most frequent complication, a wisely management method will also reduce the incidence of PDPH. METHODS Five patients who had inadvertent dural puncture during the epidural procedure before hip or knee arthroplasty were included in this study. After dural punctu...

Position The Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) believes that registered nurses (RNs) who are not licensed anesthesia care providers should monitor but not manage the delivery of analgesia and anesthesia by catheter techniques to pregnant women. These techniques include administration of analgesia and anesthesia via epidural, intrathecal, spinal and patient-co...

The variations of sacral hiatus in dry bone are important as it determines access of sacral hiatus for caudal epidural anesthesia and analgesia. So the present study was conducted on 44 adult dry sacra in department of Anatomy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences,Bhubaneshwar,Odisha,India with the aim to find out the anatomical variations of sacral hiatus(SH) including shape, length, antero...

To the Editor: The lowest platelet counts at which one can safely administer neuraxial anesthesia for labour and delivery is controversial. Published studies are few and sample sizes small.1–3 We report our institutional experience with thrombocytopenic parturients, probably the largest group to date. Medical records from 1997 to 2002 of parturients with platelet counts < 100,000·μL–1 during th...