• Xijian Ke, Ji Li, Yong Liu, Xi Wu, and Wei Mei.
• Department of anesthesiology and Pain medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1095 Jiefang Road, Wuhan, 430030, People's Republic of China.
• BMC Anesthesiol. 2017 Jun 26; 17 (1): 86.

BackgroundAnesthesia management for patients with severe ankylosing spondylitis scheduled for total hip arthroplasty is challenging due to a potential difficult airway and difficult neuraxial block. We report 4 cases with ankylosing spondylitis successfully managed with a combination of lumbar plexus, sacral plexus and T12 paravertebral block.Case PresentationFour patients were scheduled for total hip arthroplasty. All of them were diagnosed as severe ankylosing spondylitis with rigidity and immobilization of cervical and lumbar spine and hip joints. A combination of T12 paravertebral block, lumbar plexus and sacral plexus block was successfully used for the surgery without any additional intravenous anesthetic or local anesthetics infiltration to the incision, and none of the patients complained of discomfort during the operations.ConclusionsThe combination of T12 paravertebral block, lumbar plexus and sacral plexus block, which may block all nerves innervating the articular capsule, surrounding muscles and the skin involved in total hip arthroplasty, might be a promising alternative for total hip arthroplasty in ankylosing spondylitis.

20 keywords...

hide…