Spinal anaesthetic
A spinal anaesthetic enables pain-free interventions in all areas below the navel. Pain relief is brought about by anaesthetising the nerves stretching from the surgery zone to the spinal cord.
A spinal anaesthetic is applied to the patient in a sitting position. Following local anaesthetic of the injection site, a thin needle is introduced into an intervertebral space in the lower lumbar region. Once the nerve fluid area is reached, a small amount of local anaesthetic is applied. Unlike an epidural anaesthetic, the local anaesthetic is not positioned close to the nerve roots but directly into the nerve fluid. You will feel a warm sensation in the legs, and a short time later you will no longer be able to move them or can do so only to a limited extent. This state can continue for up to 3-4 hours, depending on the type of local anaesthetic used.
Risks of the spinal anaesthetic
Approximately 1-3 % of patients experience headache. In extremely rare cases, severe incidents may occur. In extremely rare cases, severe incidents can occur, such as a cardiac, circulatory or respiratory arrest. These can be triggered by intolerance reactions or inadvertently injecting the local anaesthetic into a blood vessel. Another very rare occurrence is permanent paralysis (in extreme cases even paraplegia) resulting from bruising, inflammation, direct nerve injury or meningitis. For these reasons, we are extremely meticulous in the way we evaluate bleeding risks.
