SPINAL ANAESTHESIA AND SURGICAL BLOOD LOSS

Extradural, spinal or combined block for obstetric surgical anaesthesia.

Sir,—Dr Carrie, in an otherwise excellent review of regional anaesthesia in operative obstetrics [1], dismisses the practice of warming bupivacaine before extradural injection as being inconvenient and hardly merited because of a reduction of block onset time of only 20%. In this respect, he quotes our study [2] which recorded a reduction of 30 % in onset time. Moreover, we demonstrated a 23% r...

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

Effects of preoperative methoxamine on blood loss and haemodynamic variables during transurethral prostatic resection under spinal anaesthesia.

Thirty-six patients who presented for transurethral prostatic resection were allocated randomly to one of two groups. Patients in group A were given methoxamine 10 mg i.m., 15 min before spinal anaesthesia. Patients in group B acted as a control group. All patients received spinal anaesthesia. Preoperative administration of methoxamine 10 mg i.m. decreased blood loss significantly and improved ...

Blood loss during Caesarean section under general anaesthesia.

Blood loss during Caesarean section has been measured in 121 patients using a haemoglobin dilution method. The results have been analyzed in an attempt to determine the importance on blood loss of age, parity, previous Caesarean section, placental site, size of baby, length of operation, and surgical experience. The only statistically significant factors increasing blood loss were (a) multipara...