Evaluation of caudal epidural anesthesia efficacy by measurement of feet skin temperature in children

Abstract

Caudal epidural anesthesia in children is not performed in pure form, but only in combination with superficial general anesthesia. Therefore, a search for reliable evaluation criteria of the caudal epidural block onset in children remains actual. Aim. To evaluate effectiveness of caudal epidural anesthesia efficacy by measurement of feet skin temperature in children. Methods and results. We investigated feet skin temperature before the caudal blockade by bupivacaine and after 15–20 minutes in 30 children. The control group included 20 children who underwent total intravenous anesthesia. The study showed that feet skin temperature after caudal blockade significantly increased from 30,1±0,15°C to 33,0±0,1°C (10%) and in the control group it did not change significantly. Conclusion. Thus, feet skin thermometry may be considered to be a reliable non-invasive method for assessing the onset of the caudal block.

Keywords

• Caudal Anesthesia
• Child
• Skin Temperature
• Hemodynamics