General versus Spinal Anesthesia: Comparison of Complications and Outcomes in Lumbar Laminectomy Surgery

Background: This study was designed to compare the complications and outcomes of lumbar laminectomy surgery performed by general and spinal anesthesia. Methods: In this prospective study, 110 patients with two common degenerative spinal diseases (lumbar discopathy and spinal canal stenosis) were enrolled. All the patients were operated in Bahonar hospital, Kerman City, Iran, via either spinal or general anesthesia by a unique surgeon. Intraoperative and postoperative complications and outcomes were compared between the two groups using descriptive and analytic statistics methods. Results: Surgeon satisfaction of anesthesia, blood loss, and admission time were not statistically significant between the groups. But, postoperative pain at recovery room, and 1, 2, and 12 hours after the operation was significantly higher in general anesthesia compared to lumbar anesthesia. Morphine request was also significantly higher with general anesthesia (P < 0.001). Conclusion: This study demonstrates that general anesthesia has greater pain in comparison with spinal anesthesia that should be considered in degenerative spinal diseases surgeries. Keywords Laminectomy; Lumbar region; surgery; General anesthesia; Spinal anesthesi