CONTINUOUS SPINAL VERSUS CONTINUOUS EPIDURAL-ANESTHESIA FOR SURGERY OF THE LOWER-EXTREMITIES - A PROSPECTIVE, RANDOMIZED STUDY

Continuous epidural anesthesia (CEA) is generally accepted as a routine method of regional anesthesia while there has been only limited application of continuous spinal anesthesia (CSA), due mainly to a lack of adequate spinal catheters. With the introduction of a new, ultra-thin spinal catheter (32 G) inserted via a thin puncture needle, some of the complications reported after CSA can be eliminated. We studied CSA versus CEA in lower-extremity operations.