One hundred patients aged 18-49 yr, undergoing elective arthroscopy of the knee joint, were allocated randomly to either spinal anaesthesia using a 29-gauge spinal needle or general anaesthesia. Dural puncture was considered difficult in 18% of the patients receiving spinal anaesthesia. In three patients (6%) it was necessary to supplement the spinal anaesthetic with general anaesthesia. Spinal...

A prospective, randomized, double-blind study was performed to investigate whether altering the rate of injection of local anaesthetic through a Whitacre needle had any effect on the spinal block achieved. Twenty patients scheduled for elective urological surgery under spinal anaesthesia received an injection of 3 ml of 0.5% plain bupivacaine either by hand (fast) over 10 s (18 ml min(-1)) or b...

Interventional biopsy needles need to be accurately localized the target tissue during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) interventions. In this context, severe susceptibility artifacts affect visibility of structures in MR images depending on needle’s material composition. particular, standard for spinal cord made nickel-titanium alloys (NiTi) generate massive MRI. Consequently, does not allow p...

We have studied the influence of two different speeds of injection on the spread of spinal anaesthesia of bupivacaine in 40 orthopaedic patients. In a random order, 0.5% plain bupivacaine 3 ml was administered in 10 or 180 s into the subarachnoid space using a 27-gauge needle with the patients in a lateral horizontal position. The slower speed produced a higher spread of spinal anaesthesia (med...