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Spinal myoclonus following combined spinal‐epidural anaesthesia for Caesarean section
Author(s) -
Menezes F. V.,
Venkat N.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.839
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2044
pISSN - 0003-2409
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2044.2006.04655.x
Subject(s) - medicine , anesthesia , myoclonus , caesarean section , ropivacaine , spinal anesthesia , eclampsia , gestation , surgery , lidocaine , carbidopa , pregnancy , levodopa , disease , pathology , biology , parkinson's disease , genetics
Summary A nulliparous woman presented with pre‐eclampsia at 39 weeks' gestation. A combined spinal‐epidural anaesthesia was employed for Caesarean section but the spinal component produced no discernible block, so the epidural was topped up with 20 ml ropivacaine 0.75% without problem and surgery was uneventful. A week after delivery she developed twitching of her legs and opisthotonus, that was initially thought to be eclampsia but was subsequently diagnosed as spinal myoclonus. She was treated with oral carbamazepine and diazepam, with improvement over the next 4 days, and discharged home a week later taking oral carbidopa and levodopa. Her symptoms resolved completely 6 months after the initial event.