The effect of epidural anaesthesia and size of spinal needle on post-operative hearing loss.
Forty-five patients who were to undergo elective urological operations were evaluated. In the pre-operative period and on the third or fourth post-operative day audiometry was performed. Epidural anaesthesia was performed in 15 cases, spinal anaesthesia was performed in 15 cases with 25 G needles, and in 15 cases with 22 G needles. No statistically significant hearing loss was observed in the post-operative period compared to preoperative period in the epidural anaesthesia group. In the post-operative period, the hearing loss observed in the 25 G-spinal anaesthesia group was significantly (P < 0.01) less than that seen in the 22 G group. None of the patients had headache after spinal anaesthesia. It was concluded that pure tone audiometry is a more sensitive indicator of cerebrospinal fluid leakage than post-operative headache.
Oncel
S
S
1st Department of Otorhinolaryngology, State Hospital, Yeşilyurt, Izmir, Turkey.
Hasegeli
L
L
Zafer Uğuz
M
M
Savaci
S
S
Onal
K
K
Oyman
S
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000767:Anesthesia, Epidural / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000295:instrumentation; D000775:Anesthesia, Spinal / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000295:instrumentation; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D005260:Female; D006312:Hearing Loss, Bilateral / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009339:Needles; D011184:Postoperative Period