Epidural anesthesia for lumbar spine surgery

A retrospective review of the hospital records of 80 patients undergoing elective lumbar spine surgery was performed, in order to determine the effect of anesthetic technique on various clinical parameters. Forty patients receiving epidural bupivacaine anesthesia were matched with 40 patients receiving general endotracheal anesthesia; these two groups were homogeneous based on age, sex, type of operative procedure, and number of spinal levels operated upon. Significant results included lower injectable narcotic requirements (p less than 0.001), lower incidence of postoperative urinary retention (p less than 0.01), and lower operative blood loss (p less than 0.1) for patients receiving epidural anesthesia. Epidural bupivacaine provided satisfactory anesthesia, and allowed intraoperative testing of lower extremity motor function. In a follow-up surgery, 38 of 40 patients who received epidural anesthesia were satisfied with the technique. For patients undergoing decompressive lumbar spine surgery, epidural bupivacaine anesthesia is an effective, well tolerated technique with several potential advantages, and an acceptable incidence of complications, as compared with general endotracheal anesthesia.