A study presented at the 2011 annual meeting of the Society of Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology found that women undergoing C-sections may require a smaller dose of anesthesia when administered through an intrathecal catheter rather than through a spinal injection, according to an Anesthesiology News report.
In the sample of 10 patients who received intrathecal catheters, the average patient needed between 0.6 and 1.1 mL of 0.75 percent hyperbaric bupivacaine to experience a T4 to T6 block. That amount is up to 50 percent less than published doses of the same medication delivered through one spinal injection.
Study author Sudharma Ranasinghe, MD, associate professor of anesthesiology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said physicians using intrathecal catheters should administer doses slowly and incrementally to prevent an overdose.
Read the Anesthesiology News report on intrathecal catheters.
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In the sample of 10 patients who received intrathecal catheters, the average patient needed between 0.6 and 1.1 mL of 0.75 percent hyperbaric bupivacaine to experience a T4 to T6 block. That amount is up to 50 percent less than published doses of the same medication delivered through one spinal injection.
Study author Sudharma Ranasinghe, MD, associate professor of anesthesiology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said physicians using intrathecal catheters should administer doses slowly and incrementally to prevent an overdose.
Read the Anesthesiology News report on intrathecal catheters.
Related Articles on Anesthesia:
FDA Adds Three Months to Review of Pacira Anesthetic
Maquet Flow-i Anesthesia System Receives FDA Approval
ASA Presents 6 Tactics to Relieve Drug Shortages