Background and objectives: To determine the accuracy of self-assessment of the cephalad analgesia level after spinal or epidural anesthesia using skin pinch.
Methods: The assessment of the cephalad analgesia level of anesthetic block made using self-assessment was compared to that of the pinprick method with a short bevel needle in 40 patients who received spinal or epidural anesthesia.
Results: A good correlation was found between the assessments of the cephalad analgesia level of anesthetic block made using pinprick and self-assessment (spinal anesthesia group: r = 0.883, p less than 0.0001; epidural anesthesia group: r = 0.802, p less than 0.0001). Among 14 patients who had received sedatives and analgesics intravenously during surgery, a good correlation was found between the assessments of analgesia level made using the two methods in the spinal group (r = 0.921, p less than 0.0001); the corresponding correlation was poor in the epidural group (r = 0.617, p less than 0.05).
Conclusions: Self-assessment seems to be a method useful for testing recovery from spinal and epidural anesthesia in the recovery room and in the surgical ward, although it may be unreliable when used by patients who have been sedated.