British journal of anaesthesia
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
An open study of ropivacaine in extradural anaesthesia.
Ropivacaine 0.5%, 0.75% and 1.0% was investigated in an open study of extradural anaesthesia in three groups of 15 patients undergoing urological or orthopaedic surgery. Following a test dose of 3 ml of 1.0% lignocaine with 1:200,000 adrenaline, ropivacaine 20 ml was given in incremental doses over 4 min via a lumbar extradural catheter. The onset time for analgesia was short in all groups: T12 was blocked 4-6 min after the end of the injection of ropivacaine. ⋯ Bradycardia occurred in seven patients and was associated with hypotension in five. Backache was experienced after operation by four patients, and three patients complained of a brief mild headache. No late adverse events were seen.