title: Spinal anaesthesia for spinal surgery.
abstract: Spinal anaesthesia for spinal surgery is becoming increasingly more popular because this anaesthetic technique allows the patient to self-position and avoid neurological injury that may occur with prone positioning under general anaesthesia. Spinal anaesthesia reduces intraoperative surgical blood loss, improves perioperative haemodynamic stability and reduces pain in the immediate postoperative period. This leads to a reduced need for analgesics and a reduction in the incidence of nausea and vomiting in the postoperative setting. Spinal anaesthesia for lumbar spine surgery also decreases the incidence of lower extremity thrombo-embolic complications and does not increase the occurrence of problems with micturition. These benefits increase the patient's satisfaction, and they expedite discharge of the patient from the hospital. Combination anaesthetic techniques, using both subarachnoid and epidural dosing schemes, may be beneficial for improving postoperative pain control and add further to the benefit of spinal anaesthesia for lumbar spine surgical procedures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Neurosurgery, Loyola University Medical Center, 2160 South First Avenue, Maywood, IL 60153, USA. wjellis@lumc.edu
authors.forename: W Scott
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Jellish
authors.forename: John F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Shea
mesh_terms: D000775:Anesthesia, Spinal / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D000779:Anesthetics, Local / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007278:Injections, Spinal; D019637:Orthopedic Procedures / Q000379:methods; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013131:Spine / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000601:surgery*
chemical_list: D000779:Anesthetics, Local