Failed Spinal Anaesthesia- A Review

REVIEWARTICLE Failed spinal anaesthesia: mechanisms, management, and prevention

Although spinal (subarachnoid or intrathecal) anaesthesia is generally regarded as one of the most reliable types of regional block methods, the possibility of failure has long been recognized. Dealing with a spinal anaesthetic which is in some way inadequate can be very difficult; so, the technique must be performed in a way which minimizes the risk of regional block. Thus, practitioners must ...

Spinal anaesthesia.

Spinal anaesthesia is normally performed by puncture of the dura and arachnoid mater in the lumbar region, and local anaesthetic is introduced directly into the eerebrospinal fluid (CSF) surrounding the nerve roots and spinal cord. The solution will spread longitudinally through the CSF and the drug will be taken up by the neuronal tissue. Whether an effective concentration results in a particu...

Spinal Anaesthesia in Spinal Surgery

Bupivacaine concentrations in lumbar cerebrospinal fluid in patients with failed spinal anaesthesia.

BACKGROUND Spinal anaesthesia (SA) has high success rates. However, inadequate block after SA has been reported even in the absence of technical problems. Various mechanisms for failed SA (FSA) have been proposed, but reports of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of local anaesthetics (LA) after FSA are scarce. We report lumbar CSF concentrations of bupivacaine in 20 patients in whom adeq...

Patient perceptions of anaesthesia research priorities -- a failed study.

Professor Steven Shafer alerted conference delegates at a recent international meeting to the value of considering topics for future research in terms of what the most important questions are that remain to be solved1. He quoted from an issue of Science magazine, in which the editors reported questions they thought pointed to the greatest current scientific knowledge gaps2. Two of the top 25 re...