Spinal anaesthesia in day-care surgery with a 26-gauge needle.

We studied 106 day-care surgical patients (52 male) aged 18-70 yr (mean 49.6 yr) who received spinal anaesthesia with a 26-gauge spinal needle. The incidence of headache, back pain and patient acceptability were investigated after operation using a questionnaire. The incidence of postspinal headache was 7.5%, and 11.3% of patients developed back pain. One patient remained in hospital because of hypotension and dizziness. There were no major complications and patient acceptability was almost 100%. We conclude that spinal anaesthesia for day-care surgery is easy to perform and cost effective.