(Int J Obstet Anesth. 2016;25:30–36)
Continuous spinal anesthesia may have some advantages over epidural catheter and single-shot spinal techniques in obstetrics, particularly in certain groups of high-risk parturients. However, use of intrathecal catheters (ITCs) seems underutilized on many obstetric units, with anesthesiologists citing the fear of infection, nerve damage or postdural puncture headache (PDPH). At the authors’ institution, which is a tertiary care hospital, ITCs are placed intentionally in specific high-risk obstetric patients, including those with morbid obesity, severe cardiopulmonary disease or spinal abnormalities. They also used ITCs following accidental dural puncture (ADP) with a 17-G epidural needle. This study reviewed retrospectively the complications experienced by 761 parturients who received an ITC for labor analgesia and/or anesthesia for cesarean delivery (CD) during the time period of 2001 to 2012 period.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.