The incidence of transient neurologic symptoms after spinal anesthesia with mepivacaine.

Abstract

We prospectively evaluated 1273 patients who received spinal (or combined spinal-epidural [CSE]) anesthesia with 1.5% mepivacaine (plain, no glucose) for ambulatory surgery. We hypothesized that analysis of a large series of patients would confirm previous findings that isobaric 1.5% mepivacaine is not frequently associated with transient neurologic symptoms (TNS). Patients were contacted twice after the anesthetic, at days 1-4 and days 6-9. One-thousand-two-hundred-ten patients were successfully contacted postoperatively (95% follow-up rate). None of the patients had permanent neurologic sequelae from the anesthetic. None of the 372 CSE anesthetics was inadequate for surgery. Fourteen of 838 (1.7%) of the spinal anesthetics were inadequate. TNS, defined as the new onset of back pain that radiated bilaterally to buttocks or distally, occurred in 78 patients (6.4%; 95% confidence intervals 5.1%-8%). The mean age of patients who developed TNS (48 +/- 14 yr) was older than that of patients without TNS (41 +/- 16 yr) (P < 0.001). TNS was not influenced by gender or intraoperative position. The frequent success rate and infrequent rates of complications such as TNS and postdural puncture headache suggest that spinal anesthesia with mepivacaine is likely to be a safe and effective anesthetic for ambulatory patients.

• Authors: Jacques T YaDeau, Gregory A Liguori, Victor M Zayas
• Journal: Anesthesia and analgesia (Anesth Analg) Vol. 101 Issue 3 Pg. 661-665 (Sep 2005) ISSN: 0003-2999 [Print] United States
• PMID: 16115971 (Publication Type: Clinical Trial, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Anesthetics, Local
• Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal
• Mepivacaine

Topics

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Aged
• Aged, 80 and over
• Ambulatory Surgical Procedures
• Analysis of Variance
• Anesthesia, Epidural (adverse effects)
• Anesthesia, Spinal (adverse effects)
• Anesthetics, Local (adverse effects)
• Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal (therapeutic use)
• Child
• Cohort Studies
• Female
• Follow-Up Studies
• Humans
• Male
• Mepivacaine (adverse effects)
• Middle Aged
• Nervous System Diseases (chemically induced, epidemiology)
• Pain Measurement
• Pain, Postoperative (drug therapy)
• Prospective Studies
• Treatment Outcome