Comparison of Intrathecal Buprenorphine and Dexmedetomidine as an Adjuvant to Bupivacaine Heavy for Post-Operative Analgesia in Patients Undergoing Caesarean Section

Introduction: Pain relief is very important aspect in postoperative period in parturient. Addition of adjuvants with Bupivacaine for spinal anaesthesia improve the quality of perioperative analgesia. Materials and methods: Each patient was informed about the study and informed consent was taken after approval from institutional ethical committee. This study includes 50 patients of ASA grade I and grade II. The patients were allocated into two groups in each 25 patients included. Group B receive 2.5ml of 0.5 % bupivacaine with 60μg of buprenorphine and Group D 2.5ml of 0.5 % bupivacaine with 5μg of dexmedetomidine intrathecally. The onset time to sensory level, motor block, haemodynamic, sedation, duration of analgesia, motor block and any side effects were noted. APGAR score was used to observed Neonatal outcome. Results: There was no significant difference between groups regarding demographic characteristics and type of surgery. The motor, sensory blockade, time of rescue analgesia and sedation were significantly prolonged in Group D compared to Group B. There was no significant difference found in haemodynamic variables. Neonatal outcome was normal in both groups. Conclusion: Addition of dexmedetomidine causes prolonged anaesthesia and analgesia. So there was reduction in need for sedation and rescue analgesics when compared with buprenorphine.