[Coma during a hip prosthesis under spinal anesthesia. Apropos of a case]

A case is reported of a postoperative coma in a ASA I 79 years old patient undergoing a spinal anaesthesia for hip prosthesis. The complication occurred three hours after the subarachnoidal puncture and 90 minutes after the completion of surgery. A complete recovery was observed in the following 48 hrs with the help of symptomatic treatments. Possible aetiologies and mechanisms of such accidents are discussed. However no definite cause could be ascertained in the case reported above, which is to add to similar ones observed during spinal anaesthesia in healthy patients. Anyhow, close surveillance is always mandatory.