Cephalic Spread of Block With Head Down Tilt in Spinal Anaesthesia - A Randomised Controlled Study

Subarachnoid block has become an established and reliable method of providing anaesthesia for lower abdominal and lower limb surgeries. Several factors determine the spread of local anaesthetic solutions in CSF. Among them, patient position is an important determining factor. Anesthesiologists give various degrees of head down tilt which they believe is both safe for the patient and will result in adequate level of block. Often these are arbitrarily done by the operator as most of the operation theatre tables are not equipped with any device to measure the accurate degree of tilt. As there is no agreement on the effect of Trendelenberg position on height of subarachnoid block, the current clinical study will be undertaken to estimate the effect of operation theatre table tilt at the time of lumbar puncture on the height of subarachnoid block.