Abstract
Effects of age on the spread of neural blockade and pharmacokinetics in lumbar epidural analgesia using 10ml of 2% lidocaine were studied. Patients were divided into two groups; a young group (under 60 yr old) and an old group (over 60 yr old).
There was a significant correlation between the spinal segment number of analgesia and age (r=0.69, p<0.05). Peak plasma concentration of lidocaine in the old group was significantly higher than that in the young group (p<0.01). In order to investigate the difference of plasma concentration between the two groups, these results were applied to a one-compartment model. Consequently, it was revealed that the absorption rate constant per segment in the old group was higher than that in the young group.
It is important to be aware of the toxicity of local anesthetics when epidural anesthe-sia is performed in older patients.
