Comparison of Needle Deviation During Regional Anesthetic Techniques in a Laboratory Model

Although many characteristics of needles used for spinal and epidural anesthesia have been studied extensively, the amount that a needle deviates from a straight path while passing through tissue has been relatively ignored.A laboratory model was used to determine the amount of needle deviation prod...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAnesthesia and analgesia Vol. 81; no. 3; pp. 630 - 633
Main Authors Kopacz, Dan J., Allen, Hugh W.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Hagerstown, MD International Anesthesia Research Society 01.09.1995
Lippincott
Subjects
Anesthesia
Anesthesia, Epidural - instrumentation
Anesthesia, Epidural - methods
Anesthesia, Spinal - instrumentation
Anesthesia, Spinal - methods
Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Local anesthesia. Pain (treatment)
Medical sciences
Needles
Reproducibility of Results
Swine
Vertebrata
Mammalia
Regional anesthesia
Investigation method
Animal
Needle
Skin
Artiodactyla
Deviation
In vitro
Ungulata
Pig
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Summary:Although many characteristics of needles used for spinal and epidural anesthesia have been studied extensively, the amount that a needle deviates from a straight path while passing through tissue has been relatively ignored.A laboratory model was used to determine the amount of needle deviation produced when different types of new spinal needles and epidural needles were passed through porcine tissue. Both needle point design and, to a lesser extent, needle gauge were found to influence the amount and direction of needle deviation. Deviation was found to be the least for the pencil-point spinal needles (Whitacre, Sprotte Registered Trademark, Safetap Trademark, range 0.60-1.00 mm/50 mm tissue, analysis of variance (ANOVA) P < 0.001). Needles commonly used for epidural anesthesia (Tuohy, Hustead, Crawford) exhibited increased deviation (range 1.73-3.54 mm/50 mm tissue), although the largest amount was seen with beveled spinal needles (Quincke, Atraucan Registered Trademark) (range 4.42-5.90 mm/50 mm tissue). The possible clinical significance of needle deviation during the performance of a regional anesthetic is discussed.(Anesth Analg 1995;81:630-3)
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ISSN:0003-2999
1526-7598
DOI:10.1097/00000539-199509000-00037