Key result
Spinal anesthesia in an 87-year-old male undergoing femur fracture surgery was followed by severe bradycardia and cardiac arrest, whereas subsequent general anesthesia was uneventful.
Case Report (n=1)
This case report highlights a potential association between spinal anesthesia and the development of severe bradycardia and cardiac arrest in an elderly patient.
Spinal anesthesia may precipitate arrest in frail elderly patients; this single case leaves open comparative safety versus general anesthesia.
We present herein the case of an 87-year-old male undergoing surgery for traumatic fracture of the femur in whom severe bradycardia and cardiac arrest developed after spinal anesthesia. Dopamine infusion started after resuscitation was stopped in the 3rd hour. A relationship was seen between this process and intrathecal application and development of bradycardia. However, this relationship represents only one of the cardiac arrest etiologies. With this case study, we aimed to question all possible causes to determine if the development of cardiac arrest following spinal anesthesia was coincidental or a remarkable phenomenon, since the operation performed under general anesthesia 15 days later was uneventful.
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Sarıkaya et al. (2011) conducted a case report in Traumatic fracture of the femur (n=1). Spinal anesthesia vs. General anesthesia was evaluated on Severe bradycardia and cardiac arrest. Spinal anesthesia in an 87-year-old male undergoing femur fracture surgery was followed by severe bradycardia and cardiac arrest, whereas subsequent general anesthesia was uneventful.
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