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Spinal Anesthesia. By Dr Sajida Pharm D 16 th May. History.
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Spinal Anesthesia By Dr Sajida Pharm D 16th May
History • The first spinal analgesia was administered in 1885 by Leonard Corning (1855–1923), a neurologist in New York.[1] He was experimenting with cocaine on the spinal nerves of a dog when he accidentally pierced the dura mater. • The first planned spinal anaesthesia for surgery in man was administered by August Bier (1861–1949) on 16 August 1898, in Kiel, when he injected 3 ml of 0.5% cocaine solution into a 34-year-old labourer.[2] After using it on 6 patients, he and his assistant each injected cocaine into the other's spine. They recommended it for surgeries of legs, but gave it up due to the toxicity of cocaine.
Spinal Anesthesia Defination • local anesthetic injection into lumbar subarachnoid space. Site of action: • Primary: preganglionic fibers leading the spinal cord in the anterior rami • Secondary: superficial spinal cord layers • Mechanism • Regardless of the anaesthetic agent (drug) used, the desired effect • to block the transmission of afferent nerve signals from peripheral nociceptors. • Sensory signals from the site are blocked, thereby eliminating pain.
Local anesthetics used for spinal anesthesia Most commonly used agents: Tetracaine (pontocaine), • lidocaine (Xylocaine), • bupivacaine (Marcaine) • Characteristics of some drugs: Bupivacaine (Marcaine): More effective than tetracaine (pontocaine) in preventing lower-extremity tourniquet pain (orthopedic surgery cases) Chloroprocaine (Nesacaine) • Not placed in subarachnoid space due to neurotoxicity risk
Factors determining spread of drug following lumbar injection • Specific gravity of the local anesthetic solution • Glucose addition: increased specific gravity above that of CSF (hyperbaric) • Distilled water addition: decreased specific gravity below that of CSF (hypobaric)
Physiological Effects-- Spinal anesthesia • Consequences of sympathetic blockade: • Arteriolar dilation • No significant effect on systemic BP due to compensatory upper extremity vasoconstriction. • No cerebrovascular vasoconstriction • Total sympathetic blockade due to spinal anesthesia: associated with a reduction in systemic vascular resistance of < 15%. • Rationale: arteriolar smooth muscle does not dilate maximally because of intrinsic tone • Many major cardiovascular response secondary to spinal anesthesia due to: • Effects on venous circulation • Venules: minimal intrinsic tone retention; maximal dilation during spinal anesthesia
Consequences of venous-side dilation: • Reduced venous return to heart leads to decreased cardiac output and consequently decreased systemic blood-pressure • Severe systemic hypotension in hypovolemic patients • Treatment: • Alpha-adrenergic receptor agonist administration • Slightly-head down patient repositioning
Effects on heart rate: • Cardiac slowing (bradycardia) secondary to blockade of preganglionic cardiac accelerator nerves (T1 to T4) • This bradycardia response may be worsened in the presence of reduced preload and as a result, reduce stimulation of atrial stretch receptors (which, when activated, cause cardioacceleration) • Management of bradycardia secondary to T1 to T4 blockade may include administration of low-dose epinephrine {Clark Albert, MD, personal communication}
Contraindications • Non-availability of patient's consent, local infection or sepsis at the site of lumbar puncture, bleeding disorders, space occupying lesions of the brain, disorders of the spine and maternal hypotension.
Operations • All surgical interventions below the umbilicus, is the general guiding principle: • Abdominal & vaginal hysterectomies • Laparoscopy Assisted Vaginal Hysterectomies (LAVH) combined with general anaesthesia • Caesarean sections • Hernia (inguinal or epigastric) • Piles fistulae & fissures • orthopaedic surgeries on the pelvis, femur, tibia and the ankle • nephrectomy • cholecystectomies • trauma surgery on the lower limbs, especially if the patient is full-stomach • Open tubectomies • Transurethral resection of the prostate
Limitations • Spinal anaesthetics are typically limited to procedures involving most structures below the upper abdomen. To administer a spinal anaesthetic to higher levels may affect the ability to breathe by paralysing the intercostal respiratory muscles, or even the diaphragm in extreme cases (called a "high spinal", or a "total spinal", with which consciousness is lost), as well as the body's ability to control the heart rate via the cardiac accelerator fibres. • Also, injection of spinal anaesthesia higher than the level of L1 can cause damage to the spinal cord, and is therefore usually not done.
Refrences • Primary Reference: • Stoelting, R.K., "Local Anesthetics", in Pharmacology and Physiology in Anesthetic Practice, Lippincott-Raven Publishers, 1999, pp 158-181.;Miller, R.D., Local Anesthesia, in • Basic and Clinical Pharmacology, (Katzung, B. G., ed) Appleton-Lange, 1998, pp 425-433.