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ANALGESIA

The Duration of Spinal Anesthesia with 5% Lidocaine in Chronic Opium Abusers Compared with Nonabusers

Maryam Vosoughian, MD^*, Ali Dabbagh, MD^*, Samira Rajaei, MD, and Hassan Maftuh, MD^*

From the *Department of Anesthesiology, Faculty of Medicine, Shaheed Beheshti University; and Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Ali Dabbagh, MD, Fellowship in Cardiac Anesthesia, Department of Anesthesiology, Taleghani Hospital, Velenjak, Chamran Exp Way, Tehran, Iran. Address e-mail to alidabbagh{at}yahoo.com.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: It has been demonstrated that chronic opium abusers have lower thresholds for pain. In this study we sought to determine whether chronic opium abuse has any effect on the duration of spinal block by local anesthetics.

METHODS: In a case-controlled study, 50 opium abusers and 50 nonabusers undergoing lower abdomen operations were selected from among the patients admitted to a university hospital for elective surgery. All patients received 100 mg hyperbaric preservative-free 5% lidocaine in dextrose, intrathecally.

RESULTS: The duration of anesthesia was much shorter in the opium abusers (60 ± 7 min) than in the nonabusers (83 ± 10 min) (P < 0.0001).

CONCLUSION: The study documents a shortened duration of spinal block in opium abusers.