Descriptive Study: Characterization of subarachnoid anesthesia with levobupivacaine in patients undergoing lower abdominal and lower limb surgery. Hospital José Carrasco Arteaga and Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso. Cuenca-Ecuador, 2020- 2021.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Levobupivacaine is currently the anesthetic of choice in subarachnoid anesthesia; reducing the risk of cardiotoxicity, it provides a shorter time of motor and sensory block compared to bupivacaine, allowing faster recovery of motility. The aim of this study was to characterize subarachnoid anesthesia with levobupivacaine, in a study of patients aged 18 to 65 years, undergoing lower abdominal and lower limb surgery, at the Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso and Hospital de Especialidades José Carrasco Arteaga in Cuenca, Ecuador. METHODS: Observational, descriptive study. 276 patients who met the inclusion criteria were included. The anesthesiologist monitored the latency time, duration, level of block, and side effects of levobupivacaine. For qualitative variables, we presented frequencies and percentages, for quantitative variables we applied mean and standard deviation. Statistical associations between the variables were sought with Chi-square test, accepting statistical significance with a p value < 0.05. RESULTS: Most of patients were male, between 30 and 39 years old. The majority of patients were overweight, most classified as ASA II, and underwent emergency surgery. Sensory block latency time was 1 to 5 minutes in 57.2% of the sample. Regarding motor block, 8 out of 10 patients had the anesthetic effect in the range of 11 to 15 minutes. In more than half of the patients the duration of the sensitive block was > 200 minutes; most of participants reached a sensory block at T6. The duration of motor block varied between 81 and 160 minutes for 80.4% of the sample. One out of 10 patients had side effects. CONCLUSION: The average sensory latency time is 5.89 minutes and the average motor latency time is 12.69 minutes. The duration of sensory block is greater than 200 minutes in most patients. The higher the dose of levobupivacaine, the longer the sensory block lasted. Motor block duration was 131 ± 31.31 minutes on average. The differences in the sensitive latency time in relation to the use of fentanyl are not significant; on the contrary, there is a significant association between the duration of sensory block and fentanyl administration.