Neuraxial opioids provide excellent analgesia intraoperatively and postoperatively while allowing early ambulation of the patient by sparing sympathetic and motor nerves. A prospective, randomised double blind study was conducted involving 90 patients of ASA 1 physical status coming for elective cesarean section to evaluate the analgesic effect of neuraxial buprenorphine. They were allocated into three groups. Spinal local anaesthetic was used as the main stay of anaesthesia for surgery and spinal and epidural analgesia with opioids continued as the main stay for postoperative analgesia. All the groups were given 0.5% Bupivacaine intrathecally for the surgery. Besides this, group I was given 150 mcg Buprenorphine intrathecally and group II and III were given 150 mcg and 300 mcg Buprenorphine respectively, epidurally. In the present study, we observed that 150 mcg of Buprenorphine given intrathecally provided much longer duration of analgesia compared to 150 mcg of Buprenorphine given epidurally. Increasing the epidural dose of Buprenorphine from 150 mcg to 300 mcg proved to produce prolonged analgesia comparable to intrathecal Buprenorphine without compromising patient safety and neonatal outcome. The minor side effects were more with intrathecal Buprenorphine than epidural Buprenorphine. We concluded that 300 mcg of Buprenorphine epidurally is equianalgesic to 150 mcg Buprenorphine intrathecally.

Objectives:Ropivacaine is a long-acting amide local anesthetic, which is structurally very similar to bupivacaine but produces less motor block and less cardiac and central nervous system toxicity. It is also about 40% less potent than bupivacaine. Our double blind study was designed to compare the clinical efficacy of the equipotent doses of ropivacaine 0.75% and bupivacaine 0.5% for epidural anesthesia and ropivacaine 0.2% and bupivacaine 0.125% for post-operative analgesia in patients undergoing bilateral mesh hernioplasty.Methods:Sixty-one patients were randomized to receive 15 ml of 0.75% ropivacaine or 0.5% bupivacaine. Sensory and motor block characteristics were compared. Changes in heart rate, mean arterial blood pressure, and adverse effects were noted. For post-operative analgesia, 0.2% ropivacaine and 0.125% bupivacaine were given as continuous epidural infusion. Analgesia using VAS scores, motor block, volume of local anesthetic used and patient satisfaction was assessed.Results:There was no significant variation in the sensory block profile. A greater intensity of motor block was achieved with bupivacaine in the beginning but by 30 minutes the difference was not significant. Duration of motor block was similar in the two groups. Visual analog scale scores were similar in both groups during the post-operative period, with a similar motor block profile. No major side effects were noted in any group.Conclusion:The equipotent doses of ropivacaine and bupivacaine provided good quality epidural anesthesia and post-operative analgesia.

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