1- Interno de Anestesiologia, Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Central
2- Assistente Hospitalar Graduado, Hospital de Dona Estefânia, Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Central
- 35th Annual ESRA Congress 2016 – Maastricht
Resumo:
The drip and tube method to locate the epidural space is described in literature as useful and reliable in infants. Several advantages over traditional loss of-resistance methods using air or saline are reported. We retrospectively collected data from the medical records of all infants ≤ 10kg that underwent thoracic and lumbar single-shot or continuous epidural anaesthesia/analgesia from January 2004 and December 2015, with the drip and tube method. 266 patients were included (60.9% male and 39.1% female); age raging between 0.7 months and 48 months old (mean age 11.58 months ± 6.98); mean weight 8.27kg ± 1.99. Overall insertion success rate of this method was 98,5% with 3 cases (1,1%) of inadvertent dural puncture and 1 case (0,4%) of intravascular catheter insertion. No other insertion complications were reported.In this study we show that the drip and tube method used to locate the epidural space is feasible and safe in infants ≤ 10kg, with a high success rate and relatively few complications.
Palavras Chave: epidural; drip and tube method; pediatrics