Comparison of the Effect of Intrathecal Hyperbaric 0.5% Bupivacaine Alone and With Addition of Dexemedetomidine on First Analgesic Request in Post-Operative Care Unit Following Elective Cesarean Section

Abstract

Spinal anesthesia has been considered preferred method of anesthesia for patients undergoing elective cesarean sections. Dexmedetomidine (DXM) is relatively a newer drug in Pakistan as compared to conventional used drug i.e. Bupivacaine (BPV) and that’s why the local data regarding its efficacy in cesarean section is lacking. Objective: To compare the mean duration of spinal anasthesia between hyperbaric bupivacaine 0.5% alone versus hyperbaric bupivacaine 0.5% with dexmedetomidine on first analgesic request for women undergoing elective cesarean section under subarachnoid block Methods: Spinal anesthesia was performed in the sitting position under sterile conditions with 25G pencil point needle. After successful intra thecal injection, patient was placed in the supine position with left tilt. The cases in Group A received hyperbaric 0.5% BPV (2.25ml) with 5ug DXM (0.25ml) and those in Group B received only 0.5% BPV (2.25ml) with 0.25ml normal saline under full aseptic measures. These patients underwent cesarean section and were assessed in post-operative time after every 30 minutes to first request of analgesia which were given if there was pain of 4 or more on visual analogue scale. Results: In Group A, mean and SDs for duration of analgesia was 359.73+8.021 minutes. In Group B, mean and SDs for duration of analgesia was 182.30+7.720 minutes Conclusions: In this study, hyperbaric bupivacaine 0.5% with DXM in spinal anesthesia for patients undergoing caesarean section significantly prolonged the duration of analgesia