The Seldinger technique was developed using a plastic introducer through which introduction and manipulations of a silicone spinal catheter, an extradural stimulation lead or a small diameter fibreoptic scope are possible without the risk of damage to the vulnerable devices. It is not intended as a replacement of the standard technique of introducing a spinal catheter through a Tuohy needle in ...

The history of the design of spinal needle tips is discussed, from the first needles used by J. Leonard Corning in 1885 to innovative, modern needle designs that continue to appear on the market. The shape of the needle tip started as a cutting bevel and developed into the atraumatic tip and the pencil-point tip in current common use. Innovative designs such as the stylet-tipped needle and the ...

Normal saline or air is used to identify loss of resistance during identification of the epidural space for combined spinal-epidural analgesia. Following epidural needle placement using air for loss of resistance, up to 80% of parturients move, grimace, vocalise or experience paraesthesia or dysaesthesia during subsequent dural puncture by a spinal needle. We compared the effects of saline vers...

Spinal anesthesia is often the preferred technique of anesthesia for cesarean delivery. It is a simple procedure with rapid onset and deep sensory block effect that produces excellent operating conditions (1). As a complication of spinal anesthesia, post-dural puncture headache (PDPH) is caused by the needle penetration of the dura matter and loss of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). During the postpa...

We present two patients both of whom had severe morbid obesity and needed placement of a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) for albumin and visceral protein replenishment. The first patient was a 53-year-old woman (body mass index [BMI], 85.8; weight, 191kg) who presented with respiratory distress and dysphagia; the second was a 26-year-old woman (BMI, 88.6; weight, 259kg) who presented ...

OBJECTIVE To observe the changes in spinal cord pathophysiology, motor function and electrophysiology after spinal cord injuries induced by punctures with different needles, and explore a new means for studying spinal neurotoxicity of local anesthetics. METHODS A total of 144 SD rats were randomly allocated into the sham-operated group (n=36) and 3 spinal cord injury groups (n=36) with the L4...

Acute spinal cord injury is one of the most common and complicated diseases among human spinal injury. We aimed to explore the effect of point-through-point acupuncture therapy with elongated needles on acute spinal cord injury in rabbits and its possible mechanism. Adult rabbits were randomly divided into a model group, elongated needle therapy group, and blank group. Immunohistochemical stain...

BACKGROUND Percutaneous diagnostic and therapeutic procedures are commonly used in the treatment of spinal pain. The success of these procedures depends on the accuracy of needle placement, which is influenced by needle size and shape. OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study is to examine and quantify the deviation of commonly used spinal needles based on needle tip design and gauge, using a bal...

Developments in needle design have been driven largely by the need to reduce the incidence of post-dural puncture headache (PDPH). Reduction in needle size reduced significantly the incidence of PDPH, but technical difficulties leading to failure of spinal anaesthesia are common when needles of 29G or smaller are used. However, development of atraumatic ‘pencil-point’ needles also led to a redu...

During knee arthroscopy, narrowness and tightness maybe encountered in the medial compartment that does not allow sufficient visualization or instrumentation. When this occurs, our team has found it helpful to perform a percutaneous clysis of the deep portion of the medial collateral ligament with a spinal needle. With the knee positioned in 10° to 20° of flexion and a valgus stress is applied....