Efficacy, Safety and Limitations of Spinal Block for All Infants Under 3 Months

Spinal anesthesia (SA) has been shown to be a viable alternative to general anesthesia (GA) for infants and children for a variety of surgical procedures. SA serves to avoid some of the potential risks of GA including the need for airway manipulation, hemodynamic instability, postoperative apnea, and exposure to medications that may cause neurotoxicity .SA allows the prevention and reduction of perioperative complications even if its duration is an important limiting factor. Because of this limitation, short surgery is the most indicated under SA . Premature infants and neurologically impaired children account for the majority of spinal anesthetics used today . This study evaluates the effectiveness, safety and limitations of spinal anesthesia when used for all infants under 3 months undergoing lower abdominal surgery at Ain Shams University Hospitals.