Epidural anaesthesia is preferred over spinal anaesthesia because: September 2006
Correct Answer: Prolonged duration of effect
Description: Ans. A: Prolonged duration of effect Epidural anaesthesia, a form of regional anaesthesia involving injection of drugs through a catheter placed into the epidural space. The injection can cause both a loss of sensation (anaesthesia) and a loss of pain (analgesia), by blocking the transmission of signals through nerves in or near the spinal cord The anaesthetist may use epidural analgesia in addition to general anaesthesia. This may reduce the patient's requirement for opioid analgesics. This is suitable for a wide variety of surgery, for example gynaecological surgery (e.g. hysterectomy), ohopaedic surgery (e.g. hip replacement), general surgery (e.g. laparotomy) and vascular surgery (e.g. open aoic aneurysm repair) which are longer duration surgeries. Other features of epidural anaesthesia: Expensive compared to spinal anaesthesia More incidence of intravascular injection (epidural space has venous plexus of Batson) More incidence of epidural hematoma Level of block can be changed by increasing the dose through the catheter
Category:
Anaesthesia
Get More
Subject Mock Tests
Practice with over 200,000 questions from various medical subjects and improve your knowledge.
Attempt a mock test nowMock Exam
Take an exam with 100 random questions selected from all subjects to test your knowledge.
Coming SoonGet More
Subject Mock Tests
Try practicing mock tests with over 200,000 questions from various medical subjects.
Attempt a mock test now