[Combined spinal-epidural anesthesia for a patient with HTLV-1 associated myelopathy]

An 81-year-old female with HTLV-1 associated myelopathy (HAM) was scheduled for transurethral lithotomy. She had had paresthesia and spastic paresis in the lower extremities for the past 15 years. The preoperative respiratory function test revealed a vital capacity of 1.3 l (58% of the predicted value). We selected combined spinal-epidural anesthesia (CSEA) for her to avoid postoperative respiratory complications due to general anesthesia. After placement of a thoracic epidural catheter, spinal anesthesia was achieved by administration of bupivacaine 7.5 mg, resulting in the sensory block level to T 6, five min later. The intraoperative blood pressure remained high at 150-200 mmHg, in spite of the administration of nicardipine. Postoperatively, neither the deterioration in the neurological findings of HAM nor the exacerbation of respiratory function was observed. The present report suggests that CSEA can be one of the choices of anesthesia for a patient with HAM.