Alternating leg movement induced by spinal anesthesia in an elderly male
Watanabe, S.; Sakai, K.; Ono, Y.; Seino, H.; Naito, H.
Masui. Japanese Journal of Anesthesiology 35(8): 1268-1274
1986
ISSN/ISBN: 0021-4892 PMID: 3783921 Document Number: 285397
In an 81 year old male, an alternating periodic leg movement was observed during spinal anesthesia. The same movement was reproduced by spinal anesthesia on the second occasion and also seen during sleep under the setting of polysomnography. The movement was planter and knee flexion (triple flexion, consecutive stereotyped cogwheel like slow movement) lasting 3-4 seconds every 20-23 seconds (about 3 times a minute). The characteristic of the movement is that sleep related movement was reproduced by spinal anesthesia. At the present, the exact mechanism of sleep related leg movement is not known. Therefore, it is not easy to explain why the same movement was reproduced with spinal anesthesia, but some phenomena such as hypotension, inhibition of inhibitory pathway, and so forth commonly observed during sleep and spinal anesthesia may be involved.