| Objectives: Although Spinal anesthesia is the most common and safe anesthetic method for patients
undergoing cesarean section, difficult access to it is a frequent problem in operating theaters. The
predictive factors for the difficulty of spinal anesthesia in patients undergoing cesarean section were
investigated.
Methods: A total of 110 pregnant women, single-stranded, aged 18-40 years old and ASA class I or II
candidates for elective cesarean section with spinal anesthesia were studied. Demographic information,
body appearance, ability to bend the back of the patient was recoded. Also the position of the anatomical
landmarks of the lumbar spine, the presence or absence of deformity in the spinal column lumbar was
recorded for all patients.
Results: The correlation coefficient of age, weight, body mass index, general body appearance, retention
ability, anatomical signs of the spinal column (touching the spinous process) and the interval between
the vertebra with the difficulty of spinal anesthesia were statistically significant (p<0.05). Complications
after spinal anesthesia had a statistically significant relationship with the difficulty of performing spinal
blockade (p: 0.006).
Conclusion: Increasing age, weight, body mass index, reducing the ability to bend the waist, the nontouching
of the spinous process and interstitial space causes the difficulty of performing spinal anesthesia
in patients undergoing cesarean section. The results can contribute to determining and designing a spinal
blockade scoring system based on the patient’s characteristics and effective factors before the surgery, to
facilitate the technique by anesthesiologist |