In this prospective, observational study, after applying a machine-learning algorithm, we developed the decision model: Y = 0.5922 + 0.055117* X1–0.017599* X2 (Y: 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine volume; X1: vertebral column length; X2: abdominal girth), with the λ 0.055, MSE 0.0087, and R2 0.807. On decision-tree analysis, vertebral column length and abdominal girth were the top two performance physical variables with respect to intrathecal bupivacaine dosage.
According to the data type of this study, multiple linear regression, ridge regression, and lasso regression are usually used for data analysis. Multiple linear regression has the characteristics of simple construction, easy implementation, and low operation complexity, but the model is prone to overfitting. To control the complexity of the model, penalties or other constraints are often added to the model; that is, regularization techniques. Ridge regression and lasso regression are currently popular regularization regression techniques. The goal of the two is the same; that is, to minimize the sum of squared residuals, but the constraints on the regression coefficients are different. Ridge regression can effectively solve the problem of overfitting but, as the value changes, its feature coefficients become uniformly small, making it impossible to discern the importance of each feature. Lasso regression, however, effectively solves the overfitting problem; it can obtain a sparse solution by controlling the parameters: the coefficients of unimportant features will be assigned to 0, and the important features will be highlighted in order according to the weight value, so as to achieve the importance ranking of features, and further control the complexity of the algorithm according to the selected input features.
In the present study, according to the results of parameter selection of lasso regression and model evaluation for different parameters, when the physical variables included in the equation increased from 2 to 5, MSE and R2 were not obviously increased. On decision-tree analysis, vertebral column length and abdominal girth were the top two performance physical variables with respect to intrathecal bupivacaine dosage. Over one hundred term parturients were used to validate the model, and R2 of all patients during the validation was above 0.8, indicating that the model was reliable.
Previous studies reported that the median satisfactory block height for the loss of pinprick discrimination during spinal anesthesia for cesarean section was T5, and the interquartile range (IQR) was from T4-T6 [16]. In our previous study, we set T5 as the appropriate spinal spread level and found the vertebral column length and abdominal girth to be the top two performance physical variables [10]. In the current study, we set appropriate spinal spread levels for the loss of pinprick discrimination as T6, T5, and T4 at 15 min after intrathecal injection, and also found vertebral column length and abdominal girth to be the top two performance physical variables. We need to note that the regression model obtained in this study is more clinically valuable.
In current study, the appropriate block level rate was 75.44%, with the mean bupivacaine volume 1.965 ml (9.825 mg). The mean bupivacaine dose was slightly lower than previous study reported that bupivacaine provides anesthesia in almost all patients (ED95) at doses that range between 11 and 13 mg [17]. It may be that the study subjects only included Asians.
Studies have proven that, in pregnant women, soft tissues may migrate inward into the vertebral canal [18], and engorgement of the extradural venous plexus occurs when pregnant women are in the supine position because of obstruction of the inferior vena cava by the enlarged uterus [19, 20]. Thus, an increased abdominal girth in the parturient causes a decrease in lumbosacral cerebrospinal fluid volume. Carpenter et al. [21]. reported that lumbosacral cerebrospinal fluid volume is the main determinant of the spread of spinal anesthesia. Our recent study showed that abdominal girth and dorsosacral distance were correlated with lumbosacral cerebrospinal fluid volume [22]. Therefore, the maternal abdominal girth and vertebral length may have a predictive effect on the spinal spread due to their effect on the volume of the lumbosacral cerebrospinal fluid.
Previous studies reported incidences of hypotension varying from 1.9 to 71% [23, 24]. In the present study, hypotension during cesarean section occurred in 41.23% of participants and was treated with ephedrine and/or norepinephrine. Most of these patients were term parturients with appropriate spinal spread levels. Thus, when performing a cesarean section under spinal anesthesia, we must strictly monitor the patient’s hemodynamic status, irrespective of whether or not the anesthesia block level is in the appropriate range.
This study has several limitations. First, only the spread level at 15 min after intrathecal bupivacaine injection was used for the analysis. We know that the spinal spread changes over time. Second, intrathecal hyperbaric bupivacaine with opioid was not studied in current study and it is worthy of further study. Third, the model does not take into account the multitude of other factors, such as drug factors, position factors, surgical factors and so on. Forth, this model is based on Asians, and whether it is accurate in other races requires further research. Despite these limitations, the current machine-learning algorithm provides new insights into the potential impact of controversial parameters.