Laparoscopic cholecystectomy under segmental thoracic spinal anaesthesia: a feasibility study

Laparoscopic surgery is normally performed under general anaesthesia, but regional techniques have been found beneficial, usually in the management of patients with major medical problems. Encouraged by such experience, we performed a feasibility study of segmental spinal anaesthesia in healthy patients.

Twenty ASA I or II patients undergoing elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy received a segmental (T10 injection) spinal anaesthetic using 1 ml of bupivacaine 5 mg ml-1 mixed with 0.5 ml of sufentanil 5 microg ml-1. Other drugs were only given (systemically) to manage patient anxiety, pain, nausea, hypotension, or pruritus during or after surgery. The patients were reviewed 3 days postoperatively by telephone.

The spinal anaesthetic was performed easily in all patients, although one complained of paraesthesiae which responded to slight needle withdrawal. The block was effective for surgery in all 20 patients, six experiencing some discomfort which was readily treated with small doses of fentanyl, but none requiring conversion to general anaesthesia. Two patients required midazolam for anxiety and two ephedrine for hypotension. Recovery was uneventful and without sequelae, only three patients (all for surgical reasons) not being discharged home on the day of operation.

This preliminary study has shown that segmental spinal anaesthesia can be used successfully and effectively for laparoscopic surgery in healthy patients. However, the use of an anaesthetic technique involving needle insertion into the vertebral canal above the level of termination of the spinal cord requires great caution and should be restricted in application until much larger numbers of patients have been studied.