The foremost limitation of local anesthetic solutions for spinal anesthesia in the outpatient setting is prolonged motor blockade and delayed ambulation. The purpose of this study was to determine if the addition of intrathecal fentanyl to low-dose spinal mepivacaine provides adequate anesthesia with shorter duration of functional motor blockade for ambulatory knee surgery compared with spinal mepivacaine alone.
Department of Anesthesia and Pain Management, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Mc Laughlin Pavilion 2-405, 399 Bathurst Street, Toronto, ON, M5T-2S8, Canada.
