Effect of Body Mass Index on the Dose of Intrathecal Hyperbaric Bupivacaine for Elective Cesarean Section

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2007-12-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: Female

Summary

Combined spinal - epidural (CSE) anesthesia is a well established technique used for elective Cesarean section. As its name suggests, it combines two anesthesia techniques - spinal and epidural. Adjusting the dose of freezing medication for body size is not as simple as giving a larger dose to a larger person. This study asks a simple, yet important question: does your body mass index (BMI) influence the amount of freezing medication needed for adequate CSE anesthesia for Cesarean section? BMI is a number calculated from your height and weight. In patients with a higher BMI, freezing medication appears to spread farther (to a higher level) in the spinal fluid. When freezing is too high, it can cause unwanted side effects. Therefore, in order to provide optimal spinal anesthesia to patients with a higher BMI, it may be advisable to administer less freezing medication. In this study, we want to find the ideal dose of freezing medication for patients with a higher body mass index, and compare it to the dose found to be ideal for patients with normal body mass index.

• Phase: N/A
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital
• Treatments: Bupivacaine; Fentanyl; Morphine

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Obese group: All pregnant women at term (over 37 weeks) scheduled for elective Cesarean section, with pre-pregnancy BMI greater than 30

• Normal weight group: All pregnant women at term (over 37 weeks) scheduled for elective Cesarean section, with pre-pregnancy BMI less than 25.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patient's refusal.

• Patients with any absolute or relative contraindication for spinal/epidural anesthesia.

• Patients with BMI between 25 and 30.

• Patients with more than one fetus.

• Patients unable to communicate in English effectively.