Pressure waveform-guided epidural catheter placement in comparison to the loss-of-resistance conventional method

Study ObjectivesTo investigate pressure waveform-guided epidural catheter placement (PWEP) and its effect in clinical practice.DesignSingle-center, prospective cohort study.SettingUniversity teaching hospital.Patients3,326 patients undergoing thoracic, abdominal, and lower limb surgery.Interventions1,614 underwent PWEP and 1,664 had the loss-of-resistance (LOR) technique.MeasurementsAnesthesia success and catheter replacement-related complications were recorded.Main ResultsThe specificity and sensitivity of PWEP was higher than LOR, and it also provided higher satisfaction with anesthesia when compared with the LOR technique (62.8% vs 45.6 %; P < 0.05). PWEP also performed better than LOR in risk of anesthesia failure (0.4% vs 1.1%; P < 0.05) and catheter replacement-related complications (0% vs 0.6%; P < 0.05).ConclusionPWEP is a reliable and useful technique for epidural catheter placement.