Background: Epidural administration of various analgesics gained increasing popularity following the discovery of opioid receptors in the spinal
cord capable of producing potent analgesia. This effect seems to be greatest when epidural anaesthesia in continued in the post-operative period as
epidural analgesia. It is now clear that epidural administration of opioids. Ours was a comparative study between epidural bupivacaine with
buprenorphine and epidural bupivacaine for post-operative analgesia in abdominal and lower limb surgery.
Methods: 60 patients undergoing lower abdominal and lower limb surgeries of either sex with ASA grade 1 and 2 aged between 20 and 60 years for
divided into two groups. After completion of the surgery and when the effect of local anaesthetic wears of and the patients complains of pain the
intended study drugs were given when visual analogue pain score touched 5 cm mark. Group – A: Patients received 8ml of 0.25% bupivacaine +
0.15mg of buprenorphine. Group – B: patients received 0.25% of bupivacaine alone. In the post-operative period the following parameters were
studied, 1. Onset of analgesia, 2. Duration of analgesia, 3. Vital parameters such as heart beat, blood pressure, respiratory rate, sedation score and
visual analogue score were recorded, 4. Side effects like nausea, vomiting, hypotension, respiratory depression, and pruritus allergic reaction were
looked for.
Results: It is observed that onset of analgesia in Group A (0.25% bupivacaine + 0.15mg buprenorphine) was 7.35 min. When compared to Group B
which 15.5 min, which is statically signicant (P<0.05). Duration of analgesia in Group A is 17.23 hrs compared to Group B, which is 5.2 hrs, this is
statically signicant (P<0.05). Visual analogue scale was reduced in Group A compared to Group B
Conclusions: Addition of buprenorphine to bupivacaine by epidural injection for post-operative analgesia improves the onset, The duration and
the quality of analgesia
ANALGESIC EFFICACY AND SEDATIVE EFFECT OF DEXMEDETOMIDINE VERSUS CLONIDINE AS AN ADJUVANT TO EPIDURAL ROPIVACAINE IN LOWER LIMB SURGERY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY