Comparison between the height of spinal block and the incidence of hypotension among surgical patients

Abstract

Hypotension is one of the common complications of spinal anesthesia; caused by sympathetic blockade leading to reduced cardiac output. Hypotension may be associated with the height of spinal block and can reduce blood flow to organs thereby leading to cardiovascular collapse which may eventually lead to cardiac arrest if appropriate action is not taken. This study examines the relationship between the height of spinal block and development of hypotension. One hundred (100) ASA I and II patients whose surgeries were below the umbilicus and done under spinal anesthesia were enrolled for the study. Patients that had hypotension were recorded and the heights of block were also recorded. Eleven patients (11) had hypotension (11%) overall. The incidence of hypotension among groups T6, T8 and T10 were 25% (7), 18.75% (3)s and 2.04% (1) respectively with a p-value of 0.5 which was not statistically significant. This study has shown that the incidence of hypotension is directly proportional to the height of spinal block though it is not statistically significant at T6 and below.