Can spinal anaesthesia be a routine for single level lumbar discectomy

To compare the efficacy of spinal anaesthesia with general anaesthesia for lumbar discectomy in terms of theatre time and post-operative effects. Study Design: Randomized controlled trial. Place and Duration of Study: Neurosurgery department Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi, from November 2013 to April 2014. Material and Methods: A total 60 consecutive patients with herniated lumbar discs were enrolled in this study to undergo randomly into assigned spinal anaesthesia group SA (n=30, group A) or General anaesthesia GA (n=30, group B). Variables included age, gender, level of lumbar disc prolapse, type of anaesthesia, operative time, and combined total theatre time, post-operative pain using visual analogue scale (VAS) and hospital stay in days. Results: Mean theatre time in group A was 62.70 and for group B it was 90.73 (p<0.001). The mean hospital stay after surgery in group A was 2.0 days and in group B was 2.27 days (p 0.002). Peak post- operative pain scores according to visual analogue scale and resultant analgesic requirements in group A was 5.10 while for group B it was 6.87 p <0.001. Conclusion: Spinal anaesthesia is safe and can be routine anaesthesia for most of the patients undergoing lumbar discectomy. (author)