The importance of spinal anaesthesia in surgical practice in tropical Africa.

Any medical officer or surgeon who intends to practice in tropical or young developing countries must be proficient in the use of local and spinal anaesthetics because of severe shortage of anesthetists and anesthetic machines. We have presented 95 cases operated on by us in three "peripheral" hospitals in the Western State of Nigeria. These cases included gastrectomy; cholecystectomy, vagectomy and pyloroplasty and splenectomy. We have also presented our method of administering spinal anaesthetics and of preventing major complication of cardiac arrest. We have reviewed briefly the physiology and complication of spinal anaesthesia.