Intraoperative total spinal anesthesia as a complication of posterior percutaneous endoscopic cervical discectomy

Percutaneous endoscopic cervical discectomy (PECD) is an emerging surgical treatment for cervical disc herniation in recent years, but the complications of PECD are rarely reported. In this case report, we aimed to report two cases of total spinal anesthesia, an unusual complication of PECD.

One patient became unconscious with unstable vital signs and another patient appeared with numbness of both arms and legs during PECD operation.

From these two cases, we concluded that the operation of anchoring during PECD should be cautious and standardized, intravenous anesthesia should be chosen to enhance intraoperative anesthesia to prevent intraoperative total spinal anesthesia.