[Spinal anesthesia of only one lower extremity with hypobaric tetracaine]

For spinal anesthesia of only one lower extremity, effect factors, assumed to influence the level of anesthesia including the degree of head-down position of the patients during injection, the volume of the drug and the rate of its injection, are studied using 0.2% hypobaric tetracaine solution in water. Seventy-two patients having the surgery of one lower extremity were divided into 7 groups according to the difference in the degree of head-down position (0, 2 and 5 degrees), in the volume (3, 5 and 7 ml) and the rate (0.2, 0.1 and 0.05 ml.s-1) of injection of tetracaine solution. Patients, in lateral position with the operative side up during injection and 20 minutes after injection, were checked for the level of hypesthesia and analgesia on both operative side and non-operative side. Except 2 groups of the patients who were in horizontal position during injection or who are injected with 7 ml of tetracaine solution all at once, the upper level of analgesia in the operative side is well controlled at T10, although in some patients the additional injection of small amount of tetracaine solution was needed. In these patients, the analgesic level in the non-operative side is restricted within S level, and HR and BP changes were very slight. The rate of injection had no effect on the analgesic level on both operative side and non-operative side.