Epidural Anesthesia ( Newby's Take) Flashcards
The objective for today's lesson is to become so badass in epidurals that when you walk into a room there is a crowd of midget clowns cheering and doing the wave
An epidural block can be performed at what levels?
- Lumbar
- thoracic
- Cervical
- Caudal
Epidurals have a wide rage of uses what are some areas of heathcare where the application of epidurals can be helpful
- operative anesthesia
- odstetric anesthesia and Analgesia
- Postop pain control
- chronic pain management
In the overall scheme of things an epidural can be used in different ways (think way to administer it)
- “Single shot”
- catheter that allows intermittent boluses or continuous infusion
Epidural Anesthesia:
a big advantage of epidural is that muscle blockade can range from _______ to ________
None to complete
Epidural Anesthesia:
everything (related to muscle blockade, pain control, etc) can be regulated and changed by what 4 factors?
- Drug Choice
- LA concentration
- Dosage
- Level of injection
Epidural Anesthesia:
the epidural space surrounds the Dura Mater in what directions?
- posterior
- laterally
- Anteriorly
Epidural Anesthesia:
the nerve roots travel in the dura mater and exit the spinal cord where (position not location)
Laterally
Epidural Anesthesia:
So we learned that the epidural space surrounds the Dura matter posteriorly, laterally, and anteriorly. The nerve roots travel iin this space and exit the spinal cord laterally. n the nerve roots then exit the ___1___ and travel peripherally to become peripheral nerves carrying both ___2__ and __3___ pathways
- Foraman
- Afferent
- Efferent
Epidural Anesthesia: Anatomy
What other 4 things (besides nerve roots) does the epidural space include
- Fatty connective tissue
- Lymohatics
- Venous plexus (Batson’s)
- Septa and Connective tissue bands
what is segmental blocks?
epidural or spinal?
epidurals are segmental blocks
why are spinals not considered segental blocks?
bc they block above and below
what is one of the most important aspects of placing an epidural?
getting the right spot! Remember epidurals are segmental blocks
Label this
- Meninges
- Spinal Cord
- Spinal Nerve
- Epidural Space
- Vertebra
Epidural Anatomy: Name the structures found in the locations:
- Superior
- Inferior
- Lateral
- Anterior
- Posterior
- Fusion of the dura with the foramen magna
- Sacro-coccygeal membrane
- Vertebral pedicles and intervertebral foraminae
- Posterior longitudinal ligament and vertebral bodies
- Vertebral laminae and ligamentum flavum
Label this
- Dural sac
- Epidural vein
- Interlaminar space
- Lamina
- Ligamentum Flavum
- Supraspinous Ligament
- Intraspinous Ligament
- Spinous Process
- Transverse Process
LA or other solutions injected into the epidural space (steroids, Narcs) spread Anatomically.
So how is horozontal spread?
- is to the region of the dural cuffs with diffusion into the CSF and Leakage through the intervertebral foramen into paravetebral spaces
LA or other solutions injected into the epidural space (steroids, Narcs) spread Anatomically.
how is longitudinal spread?
preferentially cephalad in direction
odd fact he stated!
Clinidine binds where in r/t the synaptic cleft?
Presynaptically
What are 6 possiable sites of anesthetic action?
- Paravertebral Nerve roots
- intradural spinal roots
- Dorsal and Ventral Spinal roots
- Dorsal Ganglia
- spinal cord
- Brain (by diffusion)
Epidural physiology:
What facilitates the rapid diffusion of LA from the Epidural Space, throught the dura and into the CSF surrounding the nerve roots?
the dural cuffs or sleeves have arachnoid villi and granulations that reduce the THICKNESS of the dura matter thus facilitating transfer
the dural cuffs or sleeves have arachnoid villi and granulations that reduce the THICKNESS of the dura matter thus facilitating rapid diffusion of the LA from the epidural space through the dura and into the CSF surrounding the ther roots. then the LA diffuses into the nerve root it self, producing anesthesia to where?
that PARTICULAR dermatome (remember again segmental)
B/c Epidural anesthesia is ______ dependent, relatively large volumes of LA are needed to achieve a block that spans several dermatomes.
DIFFUSION
Max spinal Volume
Epidural volume
- 2 ml
- up to 15 ml
with an epidural the Block ONLY gets as high or low as you regulate it by what?
VOLUME
With epidurals _____ affects spread, so to get more levels give more _____
Volume
volume
With Epidurals:
The #1 factor to get action of epidural at a certain site is what?
The #2 factor is How much spread or how many dermatomes this is affected by what?
- location
- Volume
an epidural is not like a spinal in which everything distal to the level of the block is affected, an epidural is a differential block dependent on the ______ and ________?
volume
site of injection
Label this motha fucker
- Spinal cord
- Pia mater
- Arachnoid mater
- Dura Mater
- Conus Medullaris
- Cauda equina
- Ligamentum flavum
- Epidural space
- Internal filum terminale
- Distal dural sac
- External filum terminale
- Coccyx
- Sacrum
- Aorta
Epidural Advantages:
the epidural tech has the advantage of better control of ____ and ____ blockade
level
and sympathetic blockade
Epidural Advantages:
the epidural tech allows for the placement of a continuous catheter which is especially useful forwhat 4 things?
- cases of unpredictable duration
- prolonged postop analgesia
- Chronic pain control
- Obstetric Analgesia and Anesthesia
What is teh spread of epidural anesthesia termed?
rostral spread
the distribution of an opioid within the cerebrospinal fluid during epidural administration; it is determined by fat and water solubility properties of the narcotic
to be able to choose the most appropriate anesthetic dose, concentration and volume of LA the anesthetist must be familiar with the variables that affect spread and duration of Epidural anesthesia.
what has more variables spinal or epidural?
Epidural
Baricity plays a very SMALL or LARGE factor in Epidurals
Small
Unlike epidurals what is the key factor in spread and distribution of the block with spinal anesthesia
Baracity
What are 9 factors that affect the level of an epidural block?
emphisise the 2 most important factors
- injection site
- Dose
- Volume
- concentration
- position
- Age
- Height and weight
- pregnancy
- Speed of injection
Ulinke spinal anesthesia the epidural produces a segmental block that spreads both ____ and ____
Caudally
Cranially (i think cephalad is a better term)
Based on the fact that Ulinke spinal anesthesia the epidural produces a segmental block that spreads both Caudally and Cranially what is te most important determinant of the spread of an epidural block?
Injection site!!
God damn I think he states this 4 million fucking times in his god damn slides it better be a fucking question of the damn fucking test
The injection site should be where for an epidural?
in the middle of the range of dermatomes that need to be anesthetized and closest to the main nerve roots involved
Caudal epidural blocks are largely restricted to _____ and _____ ______ dermatomes
Sacral
Low Lumbar
Thoracic levels can be reached by caudal approach only if _______ are given, and then the block is patchy at best bc of the distance that the anesthestic must travel
Large volumes 30mL
Lumbar LA injections of __mL tend to spread caudad to include all the sacral dermatomes
10 mL
Lumbar injection of __mL volumes produce much better quality sacral blocks and can also extend cranially to include the midthoracic levels
20mL
Thoracic injections tend to produce a _______ segmental band of anesthesia with minimal lumbar spread
symmetric
When using a thoracis approach, it is prudent to decrease your volume by about ____ to ____% to prevent cranially spread.
30-50%
when doing a thoracic epidural you want to use less volume to minimize crainial spread b/c what don’t you want to anesthetized and where is it located????? HMMMM
Cardiac Accelerator C4
is it generally feasable to produce surgical anesthesia in the low lumbar or sacral nerve distributions when using a thoracic injection site?
NOPE
Thoracic injections are ideally suited for procedures of where?
chest
upper abd
postop thoracotomy
within the range typically used for surgical anesthesia drug CONCENTRATION is relatively unimportant in determining what?
block spread!
What is the #1 way to tell density of block?
Concentration
_____ and _____ are important variables in determining both spread and quality of the epidural block obtained
Dose and Volume
Epidural: Dose, Volume , Concentration
if the drug CONCENTRATION is held constant, increasing the volume of LA (thus increasing the dose) results in significantly greater what?
Spread
Epidural: Dose, Volume , Concentration
if the drug CONCENTRATION is held constant, increasing the volume of LA (thus increasing the dose) results in significantly greater Spread.
Dose = what
dose = volume x concentration
Epidural: Dose, Volume , Concentration
if the drug CONCENTRATION is held constant, increasing the volume of LA (thus increasing the dose) results in significantly greater Spread.
For example notice the dose increases and VOLUME increases but the concentration remains the same thus you get a greater spread without changing the concentration
give me the doses
15 ml and 20 mL of 0.25 % Lidocaine
15mL x 2.5 mg/mL =37.5 mg
20 mL x 2.5 mg/mL = 50 mg
so after everything I just went over we now know that the CONCENTRATION of the LA generally affects the _____ of the block not the ______
DENSITY
SPREAD
Epidural: Dose, Volume, and Concentrations
So continued from all the info we now know.
- a small volume of a more concentrated LA will produce what in a block?
- Now take that same DOSE and double the volume and what will happen?
- Very limited but very STRONG
- SPREAD increases but weaker block
Epidural: Dose, Volume, and Concentration
the increase in block level is NOT in direct proportion to volume increase. Thus Doubling the VOLUME will NOT double the block spread. it is a NON-linear relationship and doubling the volume will only increase the level about ___-__ the origional # of segments
1/3-1/2