Frequency of complications of spinal anaesthesia for caesarean delivery

Background: the choice of anesthesia for c-section depends upon indication for operation,patient and obstetrician preference and choice of anesthesiologist. recent trends in obstetric anesthesia are to give preference to regional anesthesia. spinal anesthesia allows the mother to be awake,minimize the problem of maternal aspiration and avoid neonatal depression associated with general anesthesia. aim: to determine the frequency of complication of spinal anaesthesia at sir ganga ram hospital in patients undergoing elective caesarean section. study design: descriptive cases series. study setting: department of obstetrics and gynaecology sir ganga ram hospital lahore. study duration: from 21-10-2008 to 20-04-2009. sample size: total 370 cases undergoing caesarean section under spinal anaesthesia were included through non probability/ purposive sampling technique. results: mean age of patients was observed 28.09±4.10. hypotension was present in 89 patients (24%). headache developed at 12 hours in 2 patients (0.5%),at 24 hours,in 6 patients (0.6%),at 48 hours,in 12 patients (3.3%). hemoglobin level showed,majority of the patients 315(85.2%) had hb between 9-10 gm/dl,35 patients (9.4%) had hb 11 while 20 patients (5.4%) had hb more than 11gm/dl. conclusion: spinal anaesthesia using 25g spinal needle and applying suitable technique was not associated with increased risk of post-spinal headache. © 2016,lahore medical and dental college. all rights reserved.