Hi there. My friend had an operation to fuse L4 & L5 area some years ago to stop back pain. She now needs a hip operation and they re going to use sectional anaesthesia in the lower spine as she has COPD. We re wondering if the fusion could make this more difficult or even potentially prevent the anaesthesia from going ahead.
Hi there, welcome to Chat Doctor, thanks for your question. Spinal anesthesia would require injection via a needle, which can be comfortablunplaced above the level which was operated in your friend. Since your friends' surgery was done at L4/L5 level, it should be possible to insert the spinal needle at L2/L3 or L3L4 level without entering the area of spinal surgery. From the current available literature there is nothing which should be a cause of concern. However, there are a multitude of reasons for failure of spinal anesthesia and there is no guarantee that it will work in all cases. Hope this answers your question. All the best for your friends hip operation. With best regards Chat Doctor.