Procedural Complications of Spinal Anaesthesia in the Obese Patient

Table 2

Incidences of immediate complications for patients with “easy” and “difficult” habitus and the respective operator experience.

	Easy habitus			Difficult habitus
	Trainees (𝑛=46)	Consultants (𝑛=57)	𝑃	Trainees (𝑛=21)	Consultants (𝑛=30)	𝑃
Duration of puncture (sec)	117±80	63±48	0.001^*	154±89	102±91	n.s.
Success on first puncture	19 (41.3%)	48 (84.1%)	0.002^*	2 (9.5%)	11 (36.7%)	0.03^*
Failed SpA	6 (13.0%)	0	0.01^*	10 (47.6%)	0	0.0003^*
Insufficient spread of SpA	2 (4.3%)	1 (1.6%)	n.s.	1 (4.8%)	1 (3.3%)	n.s.
Segment change	7 (15.2%)	3 (5.2%)	0.05	8 (38.1%)	12 (40%)	n.s.
Blood in introducer needle	5 (10.9%)	5 (8.8%)	n.s.	8 (38.1%)	9 (45%)	n.s.
Blood in CSF	4 (8.7%)	1 (1.6%)	n.s.	3 (14.3%)	5 (16.7%)	n.s.

Values indicate total number of patients and percentage. Column 𝑃 displays the respective 𝑃 values where ^*indicates significance (𝑃<0.05) and n.s.: not significant.