The peripheral nerve stimulator: a monitor during continuous spinal anesthesia. Case report.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

A continuous spinal anesthetic was planned and conducted for a medically compromised and demented 80-year-old man presenting for repair of an intratrochanteric hip fracture.

METHODS

A peripheral nerve stimulator was successfully employed to monitor the height and to help time the redosing of the continuous spinal anesthetic.

RESULTS

The use of a peripheral nerve stimulator allowed careful titration of our continuous spinal anesthetic to provide dense analgesia at the surgical site for 1 hour 5 minutes, using a total spinal dose of 27 mg lidocaine and 7.5 micrograms spinal fentanyl.

CONCLUSION

A standard peripheral nerve stimulator is an effective monitor to help optimize management of continuous spinal anesthesia.