BACKGROUND Administration of local anesthetics at body temperature has been reported to shorten the onset time of regional block; however, studies examining the effects of warmed lidocaine on the onset of epidural anesthesia are limited. Here, we ascertain whether warming lidocaine solution to body temperature shortens the time to onset of epidural anesthesia. METHODS Eighty patients were ran...

Anesthetic management of the pregnant achondroplastic patient for cesarean section poses significant challenges for anesthetists when coupled with anesthetic risks encountered during the third trimester of pregnancy. We report the case of a 25-year-old, 107 cm in height, and 37-week woman with achondroplasia who underwent neuraxial anesthesia for an elective cesarean section. Due to lumbar hype...

Though once considered the gold standard, epidural anaesthesia has complications that may be significant and include hypotension, urinary retention, partial or patchy block and, in rare cases, devastating neurological injuries also. Paravertebral block (PVB) is an alternative technique for unilateral surgical procedures like thoracotomy, which may offer similar analgesic effectiveness and a mor...

PURPOSE This study examined the sparing effect of sufentanil on the median effective concentration (EC₅₀) of epidural ropivacaine in elderly patients undergoing elective transurethral resection of prostate (TURP). MATERIALS AND METHODS This was a prospective randomized double-blind dose-response study. Fifty eight elderly patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I-I...

In principle, the combination of two different administration of anesthesia routes on the same patient improves effectiveness and reduces side effects (Stevens and Edwards, 1999) [B]: Spinal anesthesia provides fast and reliable segmental anesthesia with minimal risk for toxicity, while epidural anesthesia provides perioperative anesthesia (alone or in combination with general anesthesia), foll...

Epidural anaesthetics are another group of drugs implicated in causing arachnoiditis. Vandermeulen ( [i] ) includes arachnoiditis as a "mishap"... "solely due to ... epidural anaesthesia". Haisa et al ( [ii] ) state that lumbar adhesive arachnoiditis should be considered for differential diagnosis of back and leg pain after epidural anaesthesia. Furthermore, epidural anaesth...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES We evaluated the effects of epidural injection with levobupivacaine or serum physiologic, epidural volume extension (EVE), when using combined spinal-epidural anesthesia (CSEA) for cesarean delivery. METHODS One-hundred and thirty-eight patients with a full-term pregnancy of 37-42 weeks that were scheduled for cesarean delivery were included. Group 1 (n=48) received ...

BACKGROUND Pain is a major limiting factor in patient's recovery from major thoracic surgical procedures. Thoracic epidural analgesia (TEA), the current gold standard of perioperative management, has contraindications, can technically fail, and carries a risk of complications such as epidural abscess and spinal hematoma. The ultrasound-guided serratus anterior plane (SAP) block is a promising r...