Background: The SpineNav3DTM technology was recently incorporated in\nthe Accuro device for the automatic detection of spinal bone landmarks. The\ngoal of our study was to validate the ability of the Accuro ultrasound scanner\nto detect the distance from skin to epidural space by comparing it to the golden\nstandard (the standard ultrasound). The secondary end-point was the inter-\nrater agreement between an expert anesthesiologist and a novice trainee in\ndetermining the epidural space depth with the Accuro device. Methods: 96\nconsecutive healthy volunteer parturients at term had their lumbar area\nscanned for the measurements of the depth of the epidural space (recorded in\ncm) by two anesthesiologists. The expert investigator made the measurements\nwith both the standard ultrasound and the Accuro devices, and the trainee\nmade the measurements with the Accuro device only. Results: There were no\ndifferences in the mean depth of the epidural space as measured by the expert\nor the novice investigator with both the devices (standard ultrasound and\nAccuro) in both positions (sitting and lateral) at any intervertebral level with a\ndifference less than 0.25 cm. Conclusion: We have demonstrated that this\nhandheld ultrasound system with 3D spine navigation technology can automatically\nidentify the key neuraxial landmarks within ultrasound images of\nthe lumbar spine acquired in the transverse plane and measure the epidural\ndepth with the same accuracy as the standard ultrasounds. We have also\ndemonstrated that the measurements may be rapidly and adequately obtained\nby a novice who had never previously used ultrasounds.
Loading....