An Italian study has found that in obese patients undergoing orthopedic surgery, a hand-held neuraxial guidance instrument (Figure) significantly reduced the number of needle redirections and passes through the skin when performing spinal anesthesia, compared with conventional palpation for spinal anesthesia.
The randomized study, published in Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine (2020;45:63-66), also concluded that the procedural time was increased when using the device (Accuro, Rivanna