ISSN:
1365-2044
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Summary In this single group observational study on 29 patients, we describe a technique that predicts the depth of the epidural space, calculated from the routine pre-operative chest computerised tomography (CT) scan using Pythagorean triangle trigonometry. We also compared the CT-derived depth of the epidural space with the actual depth of needle insertion. The CT-derived and the actual depths of the epidural space were highly correlated (r = 0.88, R2 = 0.78, p 〈 0.0001). The mean (95% CI) difference between CT-derived and actual depths was 0.26 (0.03–0.49) cm. Thus, the CT-derived depth tends to be greater than the actual depth by between 0.03 and 0.49 cm. There were no associations between either the CT-derived or the actual depth of the epidural space and age, weight, height or body mass index.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2044.2002.02572_4.x
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