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Author Spotlight: Enhancing Success of Ultrasound-Guided Neuraxial Anesthesia in Cases with Difficult Anatomy
Published on: January 31, 2025
COMBINED SPINAL AND EPIDURAL ANAESTHESIA FOR ABDOMINAL SURGERY: A NEW TECHNIQUE
Manohar Lal1, Sujan Singh2, A R Gupta2
1Senior Adviser (Anaesthesiology), Army Hospital, Delhi Cantt 110010.
Abstract:
Combined spinal and epidural anaesthesia was used in 50 patients undergoing abdominal surgery. A fixed dose of 1.0 mL of 5 per cent lignocaine was injected intrathecally in all cases followed by 10 mL of 0.5 per cent bupivacaine epidurally, using "needle through needle" technique in the same lumbar intervertebral space. Subsequently epidural catheter was passed for top-up doses and postoperative analgesia. The advantages of this technique observed were immediate onset of intense block of prolonged, controllable duration and no incidence of post-spinal headache. Five cases developed intraoperative hypotension which required correction. No patient developed any complications of spinal and epidural anaesthesia.
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