• Manjaree Mishra, Shashi Prakash Mishra, and Somendra Pal Singh.
• Department of Anesthesia, U. P. Rural Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Saifai, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, India.
• Saudi J Anaesth. 2017 Jan 1; 11 (1): 58-61.

BackgroundUltrasound-guided transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block has recently come up as a modality to take care of postoperative pain. It can somewhat avoid the use of intravenous opioid analgesics and hence to avoid its complications. We have performed a prospective, double-blinded, randomized study to assess the analgesic effect of adding dexmedetomidine to local ropivacaine on TAP block for patients undergoing lower abdominal surgeries.AimThe aim is to assess whether addition of dexmedetomidine to ropivacaine may bring some improvements to the analgesic efficacy of TAP blocks in patients undergoing lower abdominal surgeries.Materials And MethodsThe study was conducted on forty patients undergoing lower abdominal surgeries under general anesthesia. The patients were divided into two groups: one receiving plain ropivacaine (Group 1) and other receiving ropivacaine with dexmedetomidine (Group 2) during TAP block. The patients in the two groups were compared for age, sex, body mass index, incidence of postoperative nausea, and vomiting and pain as measured on visual analog scale (VAS).ResultsThere was significantly lower pain score on VAS at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 18 h in Group 2 than in Group 1.ConclusionThe addition of dexmedetomidine to ropivacaine during TAP block improves analgesic effect of TAP block and prolongs the duration of analgesia as well.

4 keywords...

hide…