Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Spinal ultrasound offers valuable information to facilitate the placement of lumbar neuraxial anesthesia. Lumbar spine sonograms are unique, and aspects may appear atypical at times, particularly the ligamentum flavum (LF). The objective of this study was to describe the sonoanatomy of the lumbar spine and to determine the frequency of atypical images of the LF in pregnant women at term. ⋯ The paramedian longitudinal sonograms of the lumbar spine are of superior quality to those obtained in the transverse plane. When using the transverse approach, a high incidence of inconclusive sonograms should be expected in the lower segments. The incidence of atypical LF images, especially in the upper lumbar segments, warrants further investigation because it can have implications for the epidural technique.