J Korean Acad Rehabil Med.  1997 Dec;21(6):1141-1145.

Clinical Measurement of Distance from Skin to Epidural Space in L3-4 Interspace

• So SW
• Kim HS
• Ahn KH

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to measure the skin epidural distance(SED) of L3-4 interspace and to correlate SED with the individual constitutional data of patients such as body-weight, height, abdominal circumference and body mass index(BMI; kg/m2). In this study we examined 120 patients (45 men and 75 women) who had no pathological abnormality in L3-4 interspace such as herniated disc, spondylolisthesis and spinal stenosis in MRI study, although majority of patients had pathology below this level. The SED was measured under fluoroscopic guide with loss of resistance technique, and we also measured individual constitutional data of patients. Pearson's correlation analysis of the data showed that there were no correlations of statistical significance between SED and the height, abdominal circumference of the patient (p>0.01). But there were statistically significant correlations between SED and body-weight as well as BMI (p<0.0001). Linear regression analysis of these data showed significant correlations between SED and body weight(male r(2)=0.49, p<0.0001, y=0.37x18.1; female r(2)=0.31, p<0.0001, y=0.18x30.8), BMI(male r(2)=0.52, p<0.0001, y=0.89x23.1; female r(2)=0.35, p<0.0001, y=0.41x31.6).

Keyword

Skin epidural distance(SED)

MeSH Terms

Epidural Space*
Female
Humans
Intervertebral Disc Displacement
Linear Models
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Pathology
Sagittal Abdominal Diameter
Skin*
Spinal Stenosis
Spondylolisthesis