Korean J Anesthesiol.  1995 Aug;29(2):244-248. 10.4097/kjae.1995.29.2.244.

A Study on Distance from the Skin to the Thoracic Epidural Space

• Do SH
• Kim YL

• KMID: 2237872
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4097/kjae.1995.29.2.244

Abstract

The depth from the skin to the thoracic epidural space was measured in 121 patients (41 male and 80 female patients) receiving epidural analgesia. The patients age, sex, height, weight were obtained before measuring the distance. The needle angle to the vertical axis to the skin was obtained during inserting Touhy needle. The mean depth was 6.0+/- 1.3 cm, which correlated with other anatomic measurements except height. The depth was correlated with the needle angle. The group with needle angle greater than 30(0) was greater in depth than the other groups. The mean depth was 6.0+/-1.4 cm in males and 6.0+/-1.3 cm in females and there was no difference in depth between male and female. The mean depth was 5.7+/-1.3 cm at the T5-6 interspace and 6.2+/-1.3 cm at the T6-7 interspace and there was no difference in depth between the two groups.

Keyword

Anatomic depth; Epidural analgesia

MeSH Terms

Analgesia, Epidural
Axis, Cervical Vertebra
Epidural Space*
Female
Humans
Male
Needles
Skin*