Conus medullaris termination: Assessing safety of spinal anesthesia in the L2–L3 interspace

BACKGROUND: Classic teaching is that spinal anesthesia is safe at or below the L2-L3 interspace. To evaluate this, we sought to determine the percentage of individuals with a conus medullaris termination (CMT) level at or below the L1-L2 interspace. Further, the relationship of CMT level to age, sex, body mass index (BMI), and spinal pathology was examined, as was the reliability of using Tuffier's line (TL) as an anatomical landmark. METHODS: …