Unexpected bronchospasm during spinal anesthesia.

Asthma and bronchospastic disease are common in patients presenting for anesthesia. Intraoperative bronchospasm can be a life-threatening problem. One approach to these patients is to use regional anesthesia because it is believed that this will reduce the complication rate. Presented here is a case of bronchospasm occurring during regional anesthesia that was unresponsive to beta agonists. The use of atropine in the treatment of bronchospasm also is discussed.