Comparison Between Pendant Position and Traditional Sitting Position for Successful Spinal Puncture in Spinal Anesthesia for Cesarean Section

BACKGROUND: Success of spinal anesthesia in pregnant females is strongly influenced by the position of the patient at the time of spinal insertion. Pendant position is a new position introduced to increase the intervertebral spaces. The current study aimed at comparing successful spinal puncture among the patients with pendant position in comparison with the ones with traditional sitting position for the elective caesarean section. METHODS: The current study was a non-blinded, randomized controlled trial (RCT) (registration code: NCT02753660 (ClinicalTrial.gov) on pregnant females undergoing spinal anesthesia. The participants were divided into 2 groups by the random consecutive sampling method; group A (pendant position) and group B (traditional sitting position). The successful placement of spinal needle was determined by the number of attempts, the amount of bone contact, and the time of spinal puncture. The inclusion criteria were pregnant females aged 18 to 45 years, body mass index (BMI) of 18 to 35 kg/m(2), and the physical status I to III, based on American society of anesthesiologists classification (ASA). RESULTS: Following the approval of the ethical committee, 308 subjects were enrolled in the study. The rate of successful puncture on the 1st attempt of group A was significantly high (92% vs. 78%, P value = 0.001). Additionally, group A had significantly less total amount of bone contact (185 vs. 421, P value < 0.001) and shorter time for spinal puncture (9 seconds vs. 12 seconds, P value < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Pendant position was significantly better than traditional sitting position to provide successful 1st attempt spinal puncture in pregnant females undergoing cesarean section.