Open AccessUltrasound-guided continuous spinal anesthesia for cesarean section in a parturient with scoliosis corrected with harrington's rod surgery
Author(s) -
Ammar Majeed,
Iftikhar Ahmed,
Ghadah Jamaan Alkahtani,
Nasser Abdullah Altahtam
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
saudi journal of anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.416
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1658-354X
pISSN - 0975-3125
DOI - 10.4103/sja.sja_112_17
Subject(s) - medicine , kyphoscoliosis , scoliosis , spinal anesthesia , anesthesia , anesthetic , combined spinal epidural , surgery , ultrasonography
With rapid improvement in healthcare in Saudi Arabia, increasing number of women with surgically corrected kyphoscoliosis are likely to present for cesarean section (CS) or vaginal delivery requiring anesthesia or analgesia. Despite the surgical correction, these patients have poor cardiopulmonary reserves which increase the risks associated with general anesthesia. Whereas altered vertebral anatomy from previous surgery and the presence of metal work in spine make performing of regional anesthesia (RA) difficult and unpredictable, we report anesthetic management of such a patient who underwent CS using continuous spinal anesthesia technique. Challenges of placement of a spinal catheter in such a patient are discussed, and use of ultrasonography to circumnavigate these challenges is described. We propose that ultrasound can prove extremely valuable in performing of RA in patients with surgically corrected kyphoscoliosis. We could not find a similar case report from Saudi Arabia in the published literature.