Ultrasound-Guided Versus Conventional Method for Caudal Block

Summary

Caudal epidural block has been widely used, especially in pediatric surgery, to supply intraoperative and postoperative analgesia by affecting the region between T10 and S5 dermatomes in surgeries below the umbilical level. In conventional single-shot caudal block, the needle is inserted through the skin with a 60-80 degrees angle, until the sacrococcygeal ligament is passed through. Then the angle of the needle is decreased to 20-30 degrees and inserted further for an additional 2-3 mm, entering into the sacral canal.There is a risk of dural or vascular puncture when the needle is passing through sacral canal. Other complications are the soft tissue bulging, intraosseous injections and systemic toxicity. Many anatomical variations have been reported for sacral hiatus and sacral cornua. Therefore, the success rate of the classic caudal epidural anesthesia method in pediatric patients has been reported to be about 75%. With the usage of ultrasonography in regional anesthesia, many advantages have been reported. In particular ultrasonography under longitudinal image is helpful for visualization of the sacral hiatus, sacrococcygeal ligament, duramater, epidural space and the distribution of the local anesthetic agent Therefore, this significantly increases the block success and visualization of where local anesthetic is injected. The primary aim of this study was compare the success rate of ultrasound guided sacral hiatus injection and conventional sacral canal injection. Secondary objectives are; block performing time, number of needle puncture, success at first puncture and complication rate. However age and weight encountered wtih these complications are registered.

Timeline

Start

2017-02-01

Primary completion

2017-11-01

Completion

2018-01-01

Publications

• Results Wang LZ, Hu XX, Zhang YF, Chang XY. A randomized comparison of caudal block by sacral hiatus injection under ultrasound guidance with traditional sacral canal injection in children. Paediatr Anaesth. 2013 May;23(5):395-400. doi: 10.1111/pan.12104. Epub 2012 Dec 29.
• Results Ahiskalioglu A, Yayik AM, Ahiskalioglu EO, Ekinci M, Golboyu BE, Celik EC, Alici HA, Oral A, Demirdogen SO. Ultrasound-guided versus conventional injection for caudal block in children: A prospective randomized clinical study. J Clin Anesth. 2018 Feb;44:91-96. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinane.2017.11.011. Epub 2017 Nov 21.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.