Intrathecal use of ropivacaine: a review

Abstract

Spinal anesthesia is a very old and popular anesthetic technique, with a high success rate and a good safety profile. In order to further improve and understand safety issues as well as the clinical use of spinal anesthesia, new local anesthetics and analgesic additives are being investigated for different applications. As practice of medicine focuses increasingly on outpatient care, spinal anesthetics should provide short-acting and adequate anesthesia without compromising early ambulation and discharge from the day surgery unit. A review of the current literature suggests that ropivacaine could have potential in this area.