Abstract
In lower limb surgery of 36 patients under spinal anesthesia used dibucaine the relation between tourniquet pain, ischemic time and anesthetic level were studied. Although the difference between the anesthetic levels to pin prick and to touch sensation was about 2 or 3 dermatomes, it reached mean 3.5 dermatomes after three hours. There was no tourniquet pain in all cases within 30 minutes ischemia. Ten patients complained of tourniquet pain. One of them still had analgesia to pin prick to third thoracic level. But no tourniquet pain occured if the block of touch sensation was keeped above T9. In reapplication of tourniquet, patients complained of tourniquet pain even within 30 minutes due to level down of spinal anesthesia. Tourniquet pain seems to be preventable when the block of touch sensation is maintained above T9.
