spinal anaesthetic BrE
spinal anesthetic AmE

An alternative is a spinal anaesthetic, which has similar effects and also allows you to stay awake.

Thousands of spinal anaesthetics are administered daily in hospitals and nursing homes.

Spinal anaesthetics are limited to procedures involving most structures below the upper abdomen.

Feels like I've just had a spinal anaesthetic."

The practitioner may insert the spinal anaesthetic at one level, and the epidural at an adjacent level.

And it was done at the convent hospital, where the anaesthetist there, not only gave this gentlemen a general anaesthetic but also a spinal anaesthetic as well.

For some procedures, the anaesthetist may choose to combine the rapid onset and reliable, dense block of a spinal anaesthetic with the post-operative analgesic effects of an epidural.

Chloroprocaine was developed to meet the need for a short acting spinal anaesthetic that is reliable and has a favourable safety profile to support the growing need for day case surgery.

Some sedation is sometimes provided to help the patient relax and pass the time during the procedure, but with a successful spinal anaesthetic the surgery can be performed with the patient wide awake.

To administer a spinal anaesthetic to higher levels may affect the ability to breathe by paralysing the intercostal respiratory muscles, or even the diaphragm in extreme cases (called a "high spinal", or a "total spinal", with which consciousness is lost), as well as the body's ability to control the heart rate via the cardiac accelerator fibres.