Journal of AdvancedMedical and Dental Sciences Research

Background: Different pathologic processes such as phantom sensations, phantom limb pain, and stump pain usually develop after lower limb amputation surgery. The present study compared general anesthesia, spinal anesthesia and epidural anesthesia in pain following lower limb amputation. Materials & Methods: The present study was conducted on 69 patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I to III scheduled for lower limb amputation. Group I patients received general anesthesia, group II patients received spinal anesthesia and group III patients received epidural anesthesia. Pain intensity was assessed on a numeric rating scale (NRS) of 0 to 10. Results: The reason for surgery was trauma in 45, ischemia in 18 and peripheral vascular disease in 6. The difference was significant (P< 0.05). Pain on VAS scale after 1 week of surgery was 4.12 in group I, 4.59 in group II and 5.11 in group III. Phantom limb pain severity was 2.15, 2.34 and 2.57 in group I, II and III respectively. Diabetes was present in 5 in group I, 2 in group II and 4 in group III, hypertension was present in 2 in group I, 3 in group II and 6 in group III. The difference was non- significant (P> 0.05). Conclusion: Authors found that there was less pain intensity with general anesthesia followed by spinal anesthesia and epidural. Key words: Amputation, General anesthesia, Spinal anesthesia