University of British Columbia

Published purpose

The use of inhaled volatile anesthetics presents an occupational hazard to a crew from unintentional exposure during a leak or accidental disconnection. Spinal anesthesia presents one opportunity to provide safe anesthesia for a variety of surgical procedures. The onset, duration, and spread of spinal anesthesia depends on the natural curvature of the spinal column, and the relationship relies exclusively on gravity, and the effect of low-gravity environments on the behaviour of spinal anesthesia is unknown. The research team aims to investigate the behaviour of common spinal anesthetic medications in reduced gravity conditions using a 3D printed model of a spinal canal obtained from CT images. They expect that baricity will play a negligible impact on anesthetic spread once gravity is removed.