Ultrasound has revolutionised the way Regional Anaesthesia is being done dramatically. With the introduction of the technology Peripheral Nerve Blocks (PNB) have gained more interest and wider spread use, new blocks have been introduced, especially fascial plane blocks and the accessibility to quality ultrasound equipment has significantly increased in the last decade.

However, due to anatomical and technical limitations ultrasound never made major ground in Neuraxial Regional Anaesthesia, especially for ultrasound-guided needle placement in Spinals or Epidurals.

Nevertheless, the wider availability of ultrasound equipment in anaesthesia departments generated a smaller trend for those procedures. The ultrasound pre-assessment allows practitioners to gain important information:

• depth of epidural space,
• needle puncture location, and
• puncture angle,

prior to puncture, especially when dealing with obese patients or patients with anatomical anomalies, improving safety and improving positive outcomes at first attempt.

As much as the sono-anatomy and the proper use of ultrasound equipment in PNBs have been trained and discussed widely, the sono-anatomy of the neuraxial area and the proper use of ultrasound in this location, has not been greatly supported.

With neuraxial regional anaesthesiologists in mind, and to improve the outcomes and make the learning curve less steep for ultrasound assessments prior to neuraxial anesthesia procedures, Pajunk and the GuRU team have created a new poster which provides:

• step-by-step instructions on probe placement,
• sono-anatomy and
• practical how to’s.