Spinal Anesthesia with Ropivacaine

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

The purpose of this study was to determine the clinical efficacy and safety of ropivacaine as a local anesthetic for spinal anesthesia. Forty patients between the ages of 18 and 75 yr, scheduled for minor lower limb surgery, were studied. They were randomly allocated to receive either 3 mL glucose-free 0.5% (15 mg) or 0.75% (22.5 mg) ropivacaine in a double-blind fashion. The subarachnoid puncture was performed with a 26-gauge Quincke-point needle at the L 3 4 interspace with the patients in the sitting position. The onset of analgesia to pinprick was similar with both concentrations. The median (range) upper level of analgesia obtained with the 0.5% solution was T11 (L4-T5) and was T10–11 (L4-T4) with the 0.75% solution. The duration of analgesia at T12 (P < 0.01) and the total duration of analgesia (P < 0.002) were longer in the 0.75% group. In addition, the area under the number of blocked segments versus time curve was larger with the 0.75% ropivacaine solution (P < 0.001). The incidence of complete motor block of the lower limbs was higher (P < 0.02) and the total duration of motor block longer (P < 0.002) in the 0.75% group. No unexpected adverse events were registered. We conclude that subarachnoid injection of glucose-free ropivacaine solutions results in a variable spread of analgesia, mostly accompanied by a good quality of motor block, in particular with the 0.75% solution.