Spinal anaesthesia is a single shot technique, resulting in an anaesthetic block of fixed duration. It is usually considered as an alternative option to general anaesthesia (although it is commonly supplemented with sedation).

Before one can evaluate the relative merits of spinal anaesthesia when planning an anaesthetic, it is important to understand the features of the technique.

We will look in turn at:

• Anatomical sites amenable to surgery under spinal anaesthesia
• Advantages of spinal anaesthesia
• Disadvantages of spinal anaesthesia