saddle block anesthesia [AS, sadol + Fr, bloc + Gk, anaisthesia, lack of feeling] , a form of spinal nerve block in which the area of the body that would touch a saddle, were the patient sitting astride one, is anesthetized. It is performed by injecting a local anesthetic into the subarachnoid cerebrospinal fluid space while the patient is in the sitting position. Saddle block anesthesia is common in some centers for anesthesia during childbirth. In today’s obstetric anesthesia, epidural analgesia is most commonly given during labor. See also obstetric anesthesia.
