title: Full-term pregnant women have higher lumbar epidural pressure than non-pregnant women: a preliminary report.
abstract: The objective of this study was to compare the lumbar epidural pressure of full-term pregnant women with that of non-pregnant women. The epidural pressure of 20 full-term pregnant women and 15 non-pregnant women was measured during epidural needle insertion in the lateral position (T0), and at 30-s intervals following insertion (T1-T3), after the patient was turned supine (T4-T6), and after local anaesthetic injection (T7-T9). Results showed that the average epidural pressures following epidural insertion in the lateral position (average of T1-T3), in the supine position (average of T4-T6), and after local anaesthetic injection (average of T7-T9) were all significantly higher in the pregnant women compared with those who were not pregnant (p= 0.0293, 0.0109 and 0.0309, respectively). Epidural pressures increased significantly after women were turned supine (p < 0.001). Average epidural pressures were positive for all time points, T0-T9. It was concluded that the epidural pressure in the pregnant women was higher than in those who were not pregnant, both in the lateral and the supine position.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nan
authors.forename: X G
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lian
authors.forename: Y H
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000767:Anesthesia, Epidural; D004824:Epidural Space / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008161:Lumbosacral Region; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000502:physiology*; D011312:Pressure; D055815:Young Adult