Comparison of the effects of lateral and sitting position during induction of spinal anaesthesia with plain levobupivacaine in caesarean section

Introduction: Spinal anaesthesia is a commonly employed anaesthetic technique for caesarean section. Levobupivacaineis a new long acting amide, local anaesthetic. Only few studies have investigated spinal anaesthesia using plain levobupivacaine in obstetrics.Levobupivacaine has all the desirable qualities of local anesthetics like with rapid onset, wide margin of safety, adequate surgical anaesthesiawith minimal side effects on the mother as well fetus. Aim and Objectives: To study the effects of spinal anaesthesia induced in lateral and sitting position during caesarean section using plain levobupivacaine. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out in tertiary care centre between Jan. 2014-June 2015 on total 100 patients posted for caesarean section. The parameters observed included- Sensory blockades onset and its duration, motor blockades onset, duration and degreeand quality of anaesthesia. Results: In group L (that received plain levobupivacainein left lateral position) 90% of patients had onset to T10 in 3-4 minutes. Onset of sensory block in group L was in 3.62±0.09 minutes and 3.77±0.11 minutes in group S (those received plain levobupivacainein sitting position). Two dermatome regression in group L were 80.96 ± 1.75 min and in group S were 81.44 ± 1.70 minutes. Motor onset in group L and S was 5.747 ± 0.375 minutes and 5.876 ± 0.396 min respectively. Total duration of motor block in group L was 157.90 ± 3.23 minutes. Conclusion: We concluded that 12.5mg dose of isobaric levobupivacaine 0.5% provides effective spinal anaesthesia, ensures haemodynamic stability, excellent quality of sensory and motor block with no influence of gravity on the spread in sitting as well as lateral position.