Does hearing loss after spinal anesthesia differ between young and elderly patients?
Fifty male patients scheduled for inguinal hernia repair with spinal anesthesia were included in this study. The patients were divided into two groups: 25 patients aged 30 yr or younger (Group Y) and 25 patients aged 60 yr or older (Group E). We performed subarachnoidal injection at the L3-4 interspace by using a 25-gauge Quincke needle with the patient in the sitting position, and 3 mL of 0.5% isobaric bupivacaine was administered. Patients were evaluated by pure tone audiometry (LdB [low frequencies], 125-500 Hz; SdB [speech frequencies], 500-2000 Hz; HdB [high frequencies], 2000-6000 Hz) on the day before and 2 days after spinal anesthesia. Low-frequency hearing loss observed in Group Y was significantly more common than in Group E (P < 0.01). There was no difference between the groups in speech and high frequencies. Mild hearing loss, defined as a hearing loss of 10-20 dB at two or more frequencies, was observed three times more frequently in Group Y than Group E (52% vs 16%; P = 0
