Sensorized Epidural Needles: an in vivo study

Currently, epidural anesthesia is performed by means of manual approaches, which require practice and expertise. In the last years, several innovative devices have been proposed for making this medical procedure more safe and accurate. This work deals with a needle guidance system based on a fiber optic pressure sensor, directly inspired to the current gold standard for epidurals, i.e. the loss of resistance technique. Here, we preliminary demonstrate the potentialities of our device in a in vivo clinical scenario.