Background: In recent years drug abuse and addiction have crossed the health and medical borders and have been turned into a social-medical problem. Spinal anesthesia for lower extremity surgery could be used as a selective method for pulmonary and systemic diseases such as diabetes, liver and kidney disorders and so on . Also it is possible to see pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases at the same time in addicts .In this research the rate of success in spinal anesthesia in addict and non addict males was evaluated. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 50 patients. The patients were classified into two groups. Including 25 addicts and 25 non addicts. The age range was selected between 25-50 years and the height range between 165-180 cm. Addiction and non addiction confirmed by morphine urine test. Spinal anesthesia was introuduced in sitting position ,the spinal needle was inserted in the L3- L4 interspace .Local anesthetic was 2cc Lidocaine 5% . Five minutes after injection of lidocaine, the sensory blockagde was checked by needle method without patients' attention.The data were collected and finally analysed by SPSS ver 10. Results: Spinal anesthesia was 100% successful in both addict and non addict groups. Five addicts (20%) and two non addicts (8%) felt pain during the surgery. We evaluated sensory blockade of these patients again,all of them had not pain but malingered to have pain. Conclusion: Spinal anesthesia is effective in addicts and is a suitable method for surgery candidates.

Keywords: Addict, Spinal anesthesia, Sensory blockade, Lidocaine, Malingering

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