Aim:

In our study, we aimed to evaluate the anesthesia techniques performed in lumbar discectomy cases, retrospectively.

Material and method:

In this study, 150 lumbar discectomy cases that were operated between January 2010 and December 2011, were evaluated retrospectively. Patients were divided into 2 groups as spinal anesthesia (SA; n=12) and general anesthesia (GA; n=138). Demographic characteristics, smoking habits, known additional diseases, preoperative respiratory values of patients known to be chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the type of anesthesia, anesthetic drugs used, the need for additional analgesic, hemodynamic measurements as first values in the operation room and the lowest and highest recorded measurements during surgery, presence of hypotension and bradycardia during surgery, the use of ephedrine-atropine, operation time, bleeding amount and the total amount of fluid given to the patient during surgery were studied.

Results:

5 of 12 patients at Spinal Anesthesia group had hypotension, and this difference was statistically significant (p<0.001). The use of ephedrine in this group was significantly higher (p<0.001). Bradycardia was not seen in the Spinal Anesthesia group, while was seen in 6 of 138 patients in General Anesthesia group, this was not statistically significant. All patients in Spinal Anesthesia group (n=12) had a diagnosis of COPD. Bupivacaine was used as a local anesthetic agent in Spinal Anesthesia group. Sevoflurane (n=121), isoflurane (n=3), desflurane (n=14) were used as inhalation agent; tracrium (n=80), esmeron (n=49), norcuron (n=9) were used as muscle relaxants in General Anesthesia group.

Conclusion:

Spinal anesthesia should be kept in mind, as a safe anesthesia technique in low thoracal and lumbar surgery in prone position, for patients with COPD, which have high risk for general anesthesia.

Keywords: Lumbar disc hernia, general anesthesia, spinal anesthesia