Real-time ultrasound-guided vs. landmark-guided spinal anesthesia for scheduled cesarean delivery and door-to-skin incision time: a retrospective study (2019-2024)

Real-time ultrasound can facilitate spinal anesthesia. However, it remains uncertain whether this technique prolongs the time for parturients entry into the operating room to skin incision compared with the landmark-guided method. We conducted a retrospective, propensity-score-matched study involving patients who received real-time and landmark-guided spinal anesthesia over a five-year period (2019-2024). Results showed a significantly time reduction from “door” to “skin incision” in the landmark-guided spinal anesthesia group compared to the real-time group (37.9 ± 13.7 minutes vs. 41.9 ± 18.3 minutes, P < 0.05). Both the age, body mass index and American Society of Anesthesiologists classification remained no significant correlation with the time reduction from “door” to “skin incision”.