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Article Type

Original Study

Subject Area

Anaesthesiology

Abstract

Context Epidural anaesthesia has an important role in modern anaesthetic practice due to its safety and efficacy, and its success depends on the technique used for identification of epidural space. Aims: In this study we compared the of loss of resistance (LOR) technique versus the balloon technique for identification of the epidural space in terms of number of attempts and time taken. Also the efficacy of the two techniques in the hands of experienced and inexperienced anaesthesiologists was compared and complications noted. Settings and design Tertiary care hospital. A prospective randomized controlled study. Methods and material 164 ASA I and II patients undergoing elective surgery under epidural anaesthesia were randomly allocated into two groups of 82 each. In Group A- LOR Syringe technique was performed and in Group B- Balloon technique was performed for localization of epidural space. On half of the patients in each of the group i.e. 41 patients, the procedure was performed by experienced anaesthesiologist and on the other 41 patients, the procedure was performed by inexperienced anaesthesiologist. Statistical analysis used Data were statistically described in terms of mean (±SD), frequencies and percentages when appropriate. Comparison of variables between the study groups was done using Student t test and Chi square test. A probability value (P value) less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. All statistical calculations were done using computer programs Microsoft Excel 2007 and SPSS vs21. Results Both groups were demographically comparable. The epidural space was identified in first attempt in 95% patients in group B (epidural balloon technique) versus 89% in group A (LOR technique). The mean time taken for the procedure was 31.3 s in group B which was significantly less than in group A -57 seconds. Also in group B the inexperienced anaesthesiologist took less time (34.2 s) similar to that taken by experienced anaesthesiologist (28.5 s). There were two failures in the group A and none in the group B. There were four dural punctures in the group A and one in the group B. Conclusions The epidural balloon is a simple, easy to use device especially useful for the inexperienced anaesthesiologists for the accurate identification of the epidural space in short time, without any increase in complications.

Keywords

epidural anaesthesia, epidural balloon, localisation of epidural space, loss of resistance technique

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

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