Minor complications following anaesthesia in young adults for orthopaedic surgery of the lower extremity.

In all, 175 young (15-40 yr) patients received either spinal anaesthesia with bupivacaine (104 patients) or general, balanced anaesthesia (71 patients) for orthopaedic surgery of the lower extremities. Each patient was interviewed before the operation, problems that arose during the operation were recorded and all patients were interviewed on the first postoperative day. One hundred and seven patients were interviewed after being discharged, 1-3 months after the operation. No major complications occurred. Two male patients experienced postdural puncture headache. Nausea (33% vs 10%), micturition difficulties (27% vs 12%), tenderness at the side of the iv-cannula (21% vs 10%) and sore throat (29% vs 0%) were more common after balanced general anaesthesia than after spinal anaesthesia. Sensory disturbances (10% vs 1%) occurred more frequently after spinal anaesthesia. All these problems had ceased at the interview 1-3 months later. Eight (six spinal and two general anaesthesia patients) were not satisfied with the method of anaesthesia used. This study revealed that an appreciable number of young patients have complications after anaesthesia, but the complications are minor and self-limited.