International Journal of Obstetric Anesthesia
Volume 16, Issue 3 , Pages 250-255, July 2007

Complete failure of spinal anaesthesia in obstetrics

  • J. Hoppe
    • ,
  • P. Popham

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Dr. Philip Popham, Senior Principal Anaesthetist, Department of Anaesthesia, Royal Women’s Hospital, 132 Grattan Street, Carlton, 3053 Australia.

Department of Anaesthesia, Royal Women’s Hospital, Carlton, Australia

Accepted 1 December 2006. published online 18 May 2007.

Dr. Joshua Hoppe, Visiting Medical Officer, Dr. Philip Popham, Senior Principal Anaesthetist, Department of Anaesthesia, Royal Women’s Hospital, 132 Grattan Street, Carlton, 3053 Australia.

Summary 

Intrathecal anaesthesia, either as a single shot-spinal or as part of a combined spinal-epidural technique, is now widely accepted as the management of choice for caesarean section. It generally produces rapid and predictable anaesthesia, yet occasionally fails for no apparent reason. Four case reports of seemingly inexplicable complete failure of intrathecal anaesthesia are presented, together with a literature review of other cases and possible causes of the failure, which include anatomical abnormality, drug failure and management failure.

Keywords: Anaesthesia: general, epidural, spinal, intrathecal

To access this article, please choose from the options below

Login to an existing account or Register a new account.

  • Purchase this article for 31.50 USD (You must login/register to purchase this article)

    Online access for 24 hours. The PDF version can be downloaded as your permanent record.

  • Subscribe to this title

    Get unlimited online access to this article and all other articles in this title 24/7 for one year.

  • Claim access now

    For current subscribers with Society Membership or Account Number.

  • Visit SciVerse ScienceDirect to see if you have access via your institution.
 

PII: S0959-289X(07)00052-0

doi:10.1016/j.ijoa.2006.12.005

International Journal of Obstetric Anesthesia
Volume 16, Issue 3 , Pages 250-255, July 2007

Article Tools