Background and Aim: A prolonged QT interval is one of the causes of sudden death and the occurrence of arrhythmias. It is needed to revision more the increasing frequency of spinal anesthesia and unidentified causes of some of its complications, such as sudden and preventable death. This study aimed at examining the QTc interval changes in patients undergoing spinal anesthesia for elective surgery. Materials and Methods: This is an analytical study conducted from March 2020 till Feb 2022. We studied QTc interval changes before, during and after the spinal anesthesia. 177 patients aged 20-60 years selected for spinal anesthesia. The electrocardiogram (ECG) performed three periods before and 10 and 150 minutes after anesthesia. Data collected and analyzed via SPSS ver. 14.5. The significance level was P-value<0.05. Results: The average QT interval before operation, during operation and after operation was respectively (365.35 ± 30.32), (374.36 ± 28.99) (377.74 ± 30.52) and this difference is statistically significant. It was significant (P=0.01). The average QTc interval before operation, during operation and after operation was respectively (407.88±29.11) (408.13±26.22) (408.13±26.22) which was statistically significant (p = 0.03). Conclusion: Marcaine increased the QTc interval during spinal anesthesia, which was statistically significant. But spinal anesthesia had no significant effect on PR interval.
Keywords: Spinal Anesthesia, QTc interval, sudden death