ABSTRACT
Postoperative analgesia enables faster rehabilitation, improves the patient's level of satisfaction, and reduces hospital stay. Regional anaesthesia is the most common anaesthetic technique used for orthopaedic surgeries across the world. Adjuvants are often administered along with a local anaesthetic during spinal anaesthesia to prolong intraoperative and postoperative analgesia. The main objective of this study was to compare the effect of 60 mcg buprenorphine with that of 30 mcg clonidine when added to 3.2 ml bupivacaine with respect to onset and duration of sensory and motor block, maximum level of sensory block, duration of analgesia, and side effects if any.METHODSAfter obtaining institutional ethical committee clearance, a prospective observational study was conducted among 88 participants undergoing orthopaedic surgery of lower limb. Spinal anaesthesia was given, under aseptic precautions with 0.5% bupivacaine heavy 3.2 ml along with either 60 mcg buprenorphine (0.2 ml) or clonidine 30 mcg (0.2 ml). The buprenorphine receiving patients (n=44) were under group A and the clonidine receiving patients (n=44) were under group B. The heart rate, blood pressure, sensory block level, and duration of analgesia, were recorded.RESULTSAnalysis of the data shows that the use of clonidine significantly prolonged the duration of analgesia compared to buprenorphine. The incidence of hypotension, bradycardia, nausea and vomiting, etc. were similar in both groups.CONCLUSIONSUse of 30 mcg clonidine as an adjuvant in spinal anaesthesia provides significant prolongation of analgesia (mean duration of analgesia 190.5 minutes) compared to 60 mcg buprenorphine (mean duration of analgesia 157.5 minutes) without causing any increased incidence of adverse effects.