Changes in the microvascular reactivity during spinal anesthesia
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 5, 2025

Real-Time Assessment of Spinal Cord Microperfusion in a Porcine Model of Ischemia/Reperfusion
Published on: December 10, 2020
Ah-Reum Cho1, Hyae-Jin Kim1, Hyeon-Jeong Lee1
1Department of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, School of Medicine, Pusan National University, Yangsan, Republic of Korea; Department of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, Medical Research Institute, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan, Republic of Korea.
Purpose:
Anesthesia alters microcirculation and tissue oxygen saturation (StO2). We sought to examine changes in StO2 using near-infrared spectroscopy and a vascular occlusion test (VOT) during spinal anesthesia.
Methods:
This prospective observational study was included 51 patients without comorbidities who underwent elective surgery under spinal anesthesia. We measured the StO2 in the lower extremity during VOT before and after intrathecal injection.
Results:
The baseline, minimum, and maximum StO2 values during VOT significantly increased after intrathecal injection (baseline StO2 from 68.6 ± 7.3% to 77.1 ± 10.1%, minimum StO2 from 39.7 ± 14.9% to 48.8 ± 17.6%, and maximum StO2 from 74.2 ± 7.5% to 80.2 ± 10.0%, all P < 0.0001). The occlusion slope and ischemic stimulus did not significantly change after intrathecal injection. The reperfusion slope was 1.38 ± 0.69%/sec before intrathecal injection and significantly decreased to 1.15 ± 0.61%/sec after intrathecal injection (P = 0.0001).
Conclusions:
Our results showed that despite an increased perfusion, reperfusion rate was significantly decreased by spinal anesthesia. Further studies are required to confirm how these contradictory results (improving oxygenation while reducing microvascular reactivity) actually affect the clinical impact of spinal anesthesia on microvascular function.
More Related Videos
06:30Quantifying Acute Changes in Renal Sympathetic Nerve Activity in Response to Central Nervous System Manipulations in Anesthetized Rats
Published on: September 11, 2018
08:49Assessing Changes in Volatile General Anesthetic Sensitivity of Mice after Local or Systemic Pharmacological Intervention
Published on: October 16, 2013
Related Concept Videos
Local Anesthetics: Clinical Application as Spinal Anesthesia
Local Anesthetics: Differential Sensitivity of Nerve Fibers
Local Anesthetics: Clinical Application as Epidural Anesthesia
Since epidural anesthetics can be infused through an epidural catheter, all types of drugs, including short-acting ones, can be administered. Chloroprocaine and lidocaine are examples of short and long-duration anesthetics, respectively. Bupivacaine...
Local Anesthetics: Pharmacokinetics
Local Anesthetics: Adverse Effects
Once absorbed into the systemic circulation, local anesthetics can affect the organs that depend on the functioning of sodium...
Local Anesthetics: Clinical Application as Intravenous Regional Anesthesia
One of the advantages of...