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

Spinal anesthesia is the most common anesthetic technique used for Cesarean section. It offers many advantages over epidural and general anesthesia. However, one of the limitations of spinal anesthesia in Obstetrics is the use of a single shot technique as the continuous technique is associated with unacceptable incidence of PDPH. It is difficult to predict the exact level of sensory block because many factors affect the spread of local anesthetic injected into the CSF. Theoretically, obese patients may have greater intra-abdominal pressure, leading to compression of the inferior vena cava and engorgement of the epidural venous plexus, which in turn increases the pressure inside the epidural space. This augmented pressure is transmitted to the dural sac and diverge the CSF from the lumbosacral region, leading to a decrease in CSF volume. It has been demonstrated that the volume of CSF in lumbosacral region is an important factor affecting intrathecal spread of anesthetics.

Our hypothesis is that obese women require less intrathecal hyperbaric bupivacaine than do normal weight women to achieve satisfactory surgical anesthesia for elective Cesarean section.Two groups of patients will be studied separately. Patients with BMI greater than or equal to 30 will be included in the obese group, also denominated study group. Patients with BMI less than 25 will be included in the normal weight group, also denominated control group. BMI will be calculated based on the patient's pre-pregnancy weight. For each group, the up-down sequential allocation method based on the Narayana rule will be used to find the minimum effective dose of intrathecal hyperbaric bupivacaine 0.75% associated with opioids necessary for satisfactory outcome in 95% of the pregnant women undergoing cesarean section, i.e. ED95.

There are two possible outcomes in our study: a satisfactory outcome is defined if the sensory block reaches at least at T6 and the patient does not complain of any pain or discomfort that requires intraoperative supplemental drugs; an unsatisfactory outcome is defined if the sensory block reaches a level lower than T6 or the patient complains of pain or discomfort that requires intraoperative supplemental drugs. The decision whether or not the supplementation is required will be made exclusively by the patient, and not by the physician in charge.

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.