50th Annual Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine Meeting

Continuous spinal anesthesia as the primary anesthetic for
orthopedic surgery: a retrospective study

Sarah Diamond, MD, Alexander Stone, MD, David Preiss, MD, PhD, Kamen Vlassakov, MD

Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital - Boston, MA

Continuous spinal anesthesia (CSA) can provide a consistent surgical block with reduced hemodynamic effects when compared to single-injection spinal anesthesia.1,2
CSA provides rapid onset anesthesia and can be redosed to extend duration.
For orthopedic surgery, CSA is often used for medically complex patients with significant cardiac and pulmonary comorbidities.
Primary aim: describe the patient population that receives CSA for major orthopedic surgery, specifically the patient and procedural factors that contribute to the anesthesiologist's decision to choose CSA.
Secondary aim: describe CSA related complications.

CONTINUOUS SPINAL ANESTHESIA AS THE PRIMARY ANESTHETIC FOR ORTHOPEDIC SURGERY: A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY