Comparison of spinal and general anesthesia approaches for MRI-guided brachytherapy for cervical cancer.

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of general versus spinal anesthesia on postprocedure narcotic use and of extradepartmental planning MRI on treatment time in high-dose-rate brachytherapy for cervical cancer.

Methods And Materials: Twenty-five patients (10 general anesthesia and 15 spinal anesthesia) who collectively received 96 brachytherapy fractions (39 general and 57 spinal) for cervical cancer between February 2015 and April 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. Over this time, institutional practice shifted from operating room-based general anesthesia to intradepartmental spinal anesthesia for tandem and ring placement.