Early Detection of Epidural Onset by Temperature Change
Status:
Unknown status
Trial end date:
2017-09-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Traditionally, placement of the epidural catheter is based on hand feel of passing through
the ligamentum flavum as well as "loss of resistance" while injecting the air through the
needle. However, both are subjective and not necessarily encountered consistently. Moreover,
the onset of sensory block is usually slow, thus making confirmation of catheter position a
tough task and may delay the turnover of the operating room. The only way to confirm the
catheter position objectively without delaying surgery is to find a reliable indicator within
minutes of local anesthetic injection. In this study, we try to use the change of temperature
in the big toe as a surrogate indicator of correct epidural catheterization.