Transient neurologic symptoms (TNS) following spinal anaesthesia with lidocaine versus other local anaesthetics.

Spinal anaesthesia has been in use since the turn of the late 19th century. The most serious complication of this technique is damage to the spinal cord or nerve roots resulting in lasting neurologic sequelae. Such serious adverse effects seldom happen. There has been an increase in the number of reports during the last nine years implicating lidocaine as a possible cause of temporary and permanent neurologic complications after spinal anaesthesia. Follow-up of patients who received uncomplicated spinal anaesthesia revealed that some of them developed pain in the lower extremities after an initial full recovery. This painful condition that occurs in the immediate post-operative period was named "transient neurologic symptoms" (TNS).