Controlled hypotensive anesthesia in scoliosis surgery.

In a retrospective study comparing normotensive (twenty-two patients) and controlled hypotensive (forty-four patients) anesthesia for spine fusion and Harrington instrumentation, the use of hypotensive anethesia was found to decrease the need for blood replacement and total blood loss by an average of 40 per cent and to reduce the average operating time by more than thirty minutes. No complications attributable to the anesthetic technique occured.