CAUDAL EPIDURAL BLOCK IN PEDIATRIC SURGERY CASES

A successful caudal epidural block can provide safe, effective regional anesthesia. (4). The overall failure rate of caudal epidural block in pediatric patients is approximately 4%, depending on the anatomical and developmental abnormalities of the caudal canal (5,6). Therefore, reliable and rapid evaluation of a successful caudal epidural block is important to optimize anesthesia management in pediatric patients. Evaluating the success of caudal epidural block with traditional methods such as mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) does not give completely objective results and takes time. Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) is a parameter that shows sweat gland function related to the autonomic nervous system. Physically, the galvanic skin response is the change in the electrical structure of the skin in response to various stimuli (7).Changes in tension measured from the skin surface are recorded. The relaxation and calming response accompanies an increase in skin resistance, while the fight response accompanies a decrease in skin resistance. In general, low conductivity is a sign of relaxation. High conductivity is a sign of emotional, mental or physical arousal (8). Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) evaluation is a non-invasive measurement that allows us to observe skin resistance changes with two probes attached to the fingertip. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether using Galvanic skin response (GSR) values measured with a finger probe will detect the success of caudal epidural block more quickly than other traditional methods in pediatric patients who underwent surgery with caudal epidural block.