Prospects of the use of caudal epidural anesthesia

Caudal epidural anesthesia for interventions on the lower limbs and pelvic organs was used in 525 patients. A specific feature of the method is use of hypoosmolic local anesthetic solution (osmolality 260 mosmol/kg) containing lidocaine, 0.9% sodium chloride, and distilled water. Pathologic studies showed that in adult patients, at least 40 ml anesthetic should be injected into the caudal canal for adequate blocking. During surgery, caudal epidural anesthesia reliably protected from surgical trauma without side effects for respiration and circulation. The duration of analgesic effect was 3 +/- 0.5 h and even longer, if local anesthesia was potentiated with sedative drugs. No complications were observed, failures occurred in 5.2% cases. The method is simple and reliable and is recommended for practice.