Key result
Spinal anesthesia was administered to more than 5,000 children over 20 years without any significant complications, with failure requiring general anesthesia being very rare.
Why the study?
Is spinal anesthesia safe in pediatric patients?
Is spinal anesthesia safe in pediatric patients?
Spinal anesthesia appears to be a safe and viable option for pediatric patients based on a 20-year single-center experience in Pakistan.
Underutilization of spinal anesthesia in Pakistani children warrants attention; leaves open its pediatric role pending prospective trials.
Spinal anesthesia in adults, once very popular, passed through a phase of disrepute and decline, but then resurged and became widely acceptable as the first choice anesthesia in some categories of surgical procedures. It is a useful alternative to general anesthesia (GA) in adults. But this useful technique has been under-utilized in pediatric population in Pakistan. It has come to my knowledge vide personal communication that the anesthesiologists working in south Punjab even in tertiary care hospitals, public or private sector, spinal anesthesia is being administered by only a few anesthesiologists. At D. G. Khan, it has been administered to children (minimum age 16 days) for the last 20 years. No significant complication has been observed up till now.
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Haq Dad Durrani (2020) conducted a letter in Pediatric surgical procedures requiring lumbosacral blockade (n=5,000). Spinal anesthesia was evaluated on Significant complications. Spinal anesthesia was administered to more than 5,000 children over 20 years without any significant complications, with failure requiring general anesthesia being very rare.
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