1.The Use of Contrast in Caudal Epidural Injections under Image Intensifier Guidance: Is It Necessary?.
Kamil NAIDOO ; Sulaiman ALAZZAWI ; Alexander MONTGOMERY
Clinics in Orthopedic Surgery 2017;9(2):190-192
BACKGROUND: We investigated the value of using contrast as an additional aid to confirm the accuracy of needle placement for caudal epidural injections under intraoperative image intensifier guidance. METHODS: A total of 252 consecutive patients were included in this study. Their mean age was 46.7 years (range, 32 to 76 years). There were 133 males (53%) and 119 females (47%) over a 12-month period. RESULTS: Of the 252 consecutive procedures, the contrast enhanced image intensifier confirmed accurate needle placement on first attempt in 252 cases (100%). Needle resiting following the infiltration of contrast was required in 0 case. CONCLUSIONS: The results from this study demonstrate that a surgeon beyond the learning curve can accurately place caudal epidural injections using image intensification only, without the use of contrast.
Anesthesia, Caudal
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Female
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Fluoroscopy
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Humans
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Injections, Epidural*
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Learning Curve
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Male
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Needles
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Spine