Forty women having requested extradural analgesia for labour were allocated randomly to receive 0.5% ropivacaine or bupivacaine 10 ml as the main dose. When a top-up was requested, 0.25% ropivacaine or bupivacaine 10 ml was given (the same drug as the main dose). The study ended when a second top-up was requested or delivery of the baby occurred. Pain from two contractions was assessed before e...

Three solutions administered by continuous extradural infusion for postoperative analgesia were compared in a randomized, double-blind manner. All patients underwent major abdominal gynaecological surgery and received 0.125% bupivacaine in 0.9% saline, diamorphine in 0.9% saline (0.5 mg in 15 ml) or diamorphine mixed with 0.125% bupivacaine (0.5 mg in 15 ml), at a rate of 15 ml h-1. The bupivac...

Twenty women, undergoing lower abdominal surgery, were allocated randomly to receive a continuous extradural infusion of either 0.125% bupivacaine or placebo at a rate of 15 ml h-1. All had received an intra-operative extradural block. Pain scores were recorded at 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 240 and 360 min after surgery. From 150 min onwards there was a significant benefit for those receiving t...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Caudal epidural analgesia is commonly practised regional block technique in children undergoing infraumbilical surgeries but has a short duration of action after single shot local anaesthetic injection. The aim of this study was to compare ropivacaine 0.25% with dexmedetomidine and tramadol in caudal anaesthesia in paediatric infraumbilical surgeries. METHODS In a randomis...

Intercostal nerve blockade is a useful adjuvant technique for the relief of pain after thoracic operations (Moore, 1975). However, a series of blocks may be necessary to produce adequate analgesia of the skin. Prolongation of the duration of analgesia can be achieved with catheter techniques, and a system in which a single catheter is utilized would be a useful addition to the armamentarium of ...

Background Caudal epidural analgesia is a proven technique for providing analgesia for spinal surgeries. Prolonged pain relief with no motor blockade is desired for early mobilization. Objective The objective of this study is to compare the effect of adding 1 μg/kg of clonidine to injection ropivacaine 0.2% with respect to duration of analgesia, hemodynamic effects, and associated side effect...

Sir,—The use of distraction and compression rods in the treatment of scoliosis was originally described by Harrington (1962). One of the complications of this operation is paraplegia, with a reported frequency of 0.1% (Harrington, 1971). To prevent this complication, patients are wakened during operation to check the voluntary motor power of the limbs. A variety of wake-up techniques has been d...