What does Spinal or Epidural Anesthesia involve?
Both Spinal and Epidural Anesthesia work by numbing the nerves as they enter the spinal cord. Local anesthetic medication is injected under the skin between the bones in your back. The resulting numbness allows a variety of surgical procedures in the lower part of the body. While Spinal and Epidural Anesthesia are often used along with sedation or General Anesthesia, the numbness from the local anesthetic drugs permits the use of much smaller doses of other drugs to maintain General Anesthesia. As a result, patients wake up faster from anesthesia and may experience fewer side effects. Epidural anesthetics also permit the anesthesiologist to administer pain medications via a small plastic tube in the epidural space for several days postoperatively. The pain relief is excellent and helps patients to cough, breathe deeply and to get out of bed earlier during their recovery.