• Takayuki Kitamura, Makoto Ogawa, Mikiya Otsuji, Nagara Ohno, Yuichiro Saito, and Yoshitsugu Yamada.
• Department of Anesthesiology, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8655.
• Masui. 2008 Dec 1; 57 (12): 1494-7.

BackgroundPredictability of the extent of spinal anesthesia by plain bupivacaine has been controversial.MethodsTwo hundred and twenty-eight patients undergoing elective surgery with spinal anesthesia were enrolled in this retrospective study. Using gender, age, height, body mass index (BMI), chosen spinal interspace for spinal tap (L2-3 or L3-4), and dose of plain bupivacaine as independent variables, we performed stepwise multiple linear regression analysis to examine predictability of the extent of sensory blockade produced by spinal anesthesia using plain bupivacaine.ResultsFollowing equation was obtained. Extent of sensory blockade = 14.9 + (male : 0.540, female: -0.540) -0.0774 x height + 0.124 x BMI + (L2-3 : 0.345, L3-4: -0.345): r2 = 0.0604. P values of gender, height and BMI were less than 0.05; however, r2 of each variable was very low.ConclusionsResults of this retrospective study imply the unpredictability of the extent of spinal anesthesia produced by plain bupivacaine.

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