Transient neurologic toxicity after spinal anesthesia, or is it myofascial pain? Two case reports

TI-HERE have been several publications of "transient neurologic toxicity" or "transient radicular irritation" attributed to intrathecal local anesthetics. Most described cases involved the use of hyperbaric lidocaine, 2-5%. Sumi et al.(1) recently reported a case in which tetracaine, 0.5%, was used. Reported cases present with low back or buttock pain radiating to the thighs or lower legs. The pain is usually moderate to severe, appearing 1-24 h postoperatively after recovery from an otherwise uneventful spinal anesthetic. In all reported cases, the symptoms disappeared within 1 week, We report two cases of similar symptoms and circumstances that have the appearance of simple musculoskeletal pain.