Retrospective Review of Lumbar Disc Surgeries Performed Under Spinal Anesthesia During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Can Spinal Anesthesia Be a Practical Alternative for Surgical Procedures in Pandemic Periods?

Year 2025, Volume: 7 Issue: 3, 614 - 20, 09.09.2025

Kenan Kart , Nagehan Ümit Karacan , Duygu Taşkın , Ufuk Karadavut

Abstract

Aim: Recent studies report that spinal anesthesia may be an alternative to general anesthesia in lumbar surgeries. Considering the benefits that spinal anesthesia provides to patients over general anesthesia, it is a positive development. Depending on the importance and priority of the work to be done, surgical interventions must be performed when necessary. In the present study, a retrospective review was made regarding Lumbar Disc Herniation (LDH) surgeries under spinal anesthesia in our hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Material and Method: LDH surgeries performed under spinal anesthesia in 184 patients between March 14, 2020, and December 31, 2022, were evaluated retrospectively in the present study.
Results: A total of 196 patient files were scanned and the files of 184 were examined retrospectively. A total of 12 patients were excluded from the study because of insufficient data. It was found that the surgery times of patients with surgical levels L5-S1 were significantly higher. The first postoperative analgesia requirement was significantly later in patients who underwent surgery at the L5-S1 level. Ephedrine was administered to 13 of the patients and atropine was administered to 14 of them. Perioperatively, 14 of the patients required additional analgesia. Postspinal headache developed in 16 of the patients and urinary retention developed in 12. SAP, DAP, and MAP of the patients decreased significantly after the intraoperative spinal anesthesia.
Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that spinal anesthesia is safe in awake lumbar disc surgery patients, which supports the increasing literature data emphasizing the superiority of spinal anesthesia in awake lumbar surgery procedures. It was also shown that spinal anesthesia can be preferred for sustainable surgery during pandemic periods when the need for ventilators is intense and opportunities are limited.

Keywords

Spinal anesthesia , lomber disc hernia , COVID-19 , pandemic period , sustainable resource use

Ethical Statement

After obtaining ethics committee approval from Karabük University, Non-Interventional Ethics Committee (No: 2023/1271, Date: 24.02.2023).

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