[Syncope with postoperative beta blocker medication after spinal anesthesia--case report]

A 63-year-old patient under spinal anaesthesia during transurethal resection of the prostate developed a bradycardia and a short-lasting asystolia five hours and 20 minutes after the beginning of the anaesthesia. At this time the remission of spinal anaesthesia was nearly complete, and the patient had received his daily dose of 150 mg atenolol because of a current hypertension 80 minutes earlier. This case report calls into question uninterrupted medication perioperatively with beta-blocking drugs for antihypertensive therapy under spinal anaesthesia. In cases of elective spinal anaesthesia we recommend omitting a preexisting therapy with beta-blockers on the day of operation.