Comparison of tramadol with bupivacaine as local anaesthetic in postoperative pain control

ABSTRACT

To determine the effectiveness and duration of postoperative pain relief after local infiltration of tramadol in comparison with bupivacaine, in adult hernia surgery. Quasi experimental study. Department of Surgery, Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi. Study was conducted on 60 patients aged between 20-60 years with elective mesh repair of inguinal hernia. Patients were divided into two groups of 30 patients for 0.25% bupivacaine [group A] and tramadol [group B]. Patients were assessed for pain at 1, 6, 12, 18 and 24 hours following surgery using visual analogue pain score [VAPS]. Patients with score =5 were given rescue analgesia in the form of 75 mg intramuscular diclofenac sodium. Comparison of first analgesia requirement time and the VAPS between the two groups was done using "t" test taking a p-value of <0.05 as significant. Patients in group A had a mean age of 46 +/- 11.03 years whereas in group B the mean age was 46 +/- 11.39 years. Mean visual analogue pain score after 1 and 6 hours of operation was 2.73 and 4.7 respectively in group A while it was 1.43 and 3.43 in group B. VAPS after 24 hours of operation was 3.47 in group A and 2.53 in group B. Mean time when 1st dose of rescue analgesic used was 8.20 hours in group A and 11.60 hours in group B. independent sample t-test for VAPS between the 2 groups revealed a highly significant difference [p-value <0.05] at 1, 6, 12 and 24 hours but no significant difference was seen at 18 hours. Independent sample t-test for time required for rescue analgesia and total number of doses required was also highly significant [p-value <0.05] between the two groups. Locally infiltrated tramadol provided an improved postoperative analgesia in comparison to bupivacaine and decreased the requirement of postoperative analgesics with early patient mobility and discharge