[Continuous intradural anesthesia in geriatric patients undergoing orthopedic and traumatologic surgery]

The aim of the study was to prospectively evaluate the results of continuous intradural anesthesia with 18G Tuohy needle and 20G catheter in geriatric patients.

We studied 70 patients with a mean age of 75.9 +/- 10.8 years who were subjected to orthopedic or traumatologic surgery of the lower extremities with a duration of 104.6 +/- 53.6 min.

Success index was 95.7%. The initial dose of 1% tetracaine was 10.36 +/- 3.96 mg, the second dose in 29 patients was 7.2 +/- 2.7 mg, the third in 7 cases was 7.40 +/- 2.47 mg, and the total dose was 14.56 +/- 5.6 mg. The metameric level was between T8 and T11 in 80.32% of patients. Peroperative complications were limited to paresthesia in 5 cases (7.14%) during insertion of the catheter, difficulties in catheter placement in one case (1.42%), and accidental catheter extraction during withdrawal of the needle in 2 cases (2.85%). Ten patients (14.28%) presented arterial hypotension (pressure decrease greater than 30% of baseline systolic arterial pressure). During the postoperative phase there were 3 cases of slight headache after dural puncture (4.28%) that recovered with conservative treatment, and one case of lumbalgia at the puncture zone (1.42%).

Continuous intradural anesthesia with the material used in this study is technically easy. It allows to accurately reach the desired metameric level, avoiding massive sympathetic blockade, and providing a steady hemodynamic condition. All these effects are essential for anesthesia in geriatric patients.