Needle Tip Position and Bevel Direction Have No Effect in the Fluoroscopic Epidural Spreading Pattern in Caudal Epidural Injections: A Randomized Trial

Table 3

The rates of bilateral and ventral epidural spread in groups M and L after injection of 4 mL of contrast medium or 14 mL of injectates.

Injection drug	Epidural spreading	Group M ()	Group L ()	value
4 mL of contrast medium	Bilateral spreading at L5/S1	66/93 (71.0%)	49/82 (59.8%)	0.119
	Bilateral spreading at L4/5	21/32 (65.6%)	14/24 (58.3%)	0.577
	Ventral spreading at L5/S1	58/93 (62.4%)	43/82 (52.4%)	0.185
	Ventral spreading at L4/5	17/32 (53.1%)	7/24 (29.2%)	0.073
14 mL of injectates	Bilateral spreading at L5/S1	91/104 (87.5%)	79/95 (83.2%)	0.386
	Bilateral spreading at L4/5	67/79 (84.8%)	57/69 (82.6%)	0.717
	Ventral spreading at L5/S1	80/104 (76.9%)	69/95 (72.6%)	0.486
	Ventral spreading at L4/5	54/79 (68.4%)	40/69 (58.0%)	0.191

Individuals from group M had their needle inserted at the midline of the sacral vertebral body.
Individuals from group L had their needle inserted into the lateral one-third of the sacral canal.
The data is expressed as “the number of cases with spreading/total number of cases” (percent of cases with spreading).