Spinal anesthesia is a technique that temporarily blocks spinal autonomic, sensory, and motor nerves by injection of an anesthetic agent into the cerebrospinal fluid of the subarachnoid space. The anesthesia is usually injected through the lumbar spine, below L2, to avoid risk of puncture to the spinal cord.
Spinal anesthesia is safe and easy to perform, and it is widely used not only in the anesthesia department but also in the surgery, obstetric, and orthopedic departments.
A benefit of this technique is that a small quantity of anesthetic agent can take effect almost immediately at the site where its effects are required.
A drawback is that surgical time is limited by duration of action of the anesthetic agent and that the surgery is possible only in the affected site.