Abstract
A 74-year-old female patient with a history of severe diabetes was admitted for amputation of right foot for the diabetic gangrene. We selected ultrasound-guided sciatic and femoral nerve block as the anesthetic management and avoided general anesthesia due to the obesity（body mass index 35.6），which might have accompanied with the difficult airway management and the respiratory complications as atelectasis and hypoxia during the operation. Sciatic nerve block was selected for this case in terms of the anesthetized area which the surgical procedure might have directly invaded. Additionally, femoral nerve block was performed as a treatment against tourniquet pain and additive amputation which were not definitely planned before the operation. During the operation, we used propofol on purpose to slight sedation following the patient’s request with monitoring of capnogram and inspection. There was no significant change of the vital signs and no complaints of the patient during the operation. As the aging population of our country increases, cardiovascular disease and therapy of anticoagulation/platelet would be more common in the patients in operating rooms. The chances, therefore, to introduce solely the technique of nerve blockade would be more frequent in anesthetic management instead of general anesthesia.
