Abstract
A mixture of 2% lignocaine (LIG) and 0.5% bupivacaine (BUP), at respective dose rates of 2 mg/kg and 0.5 mg/kg (LIG-BUP), was compared to LIG (4 mg/kg) and BUP (1 mg/kg) for lumbosacral epidural anaesthesia in 5 sedated cats. Each cat received all 3 treatment regimens at 1-week intervals. The cats were premedicated with an intramuscular injection of atropine sulphate (0.04 mg/kg) and ketamine hydrochloride (10 mg/kg). Onset and duration of analgesia, and time to walking were determined. Associated changes in heart rate (HR), respiratory frequency (fR) and rectal temperature (RT) were recorded. Onset of analgesia with epidurally administered LIG-BUP (4.5 +/- 0.7 min), LIG (3.9 +/- 1.0 min) and BUP (5.0 +/- 1.0 min) was similar. Duration of analgesia with LIG-BUP (49.4 +/- 4.5 min) was significantly (P<0.05) longer than with LIG (40.2 +/- 1.0 min) but shorter than with BUP (79.4 +/- 6.3 min). There were no significant differences in times to standing with LIG-BUP (26.3 +/- 6.4 min), LIG (20.4 +/- 4.7 min) and BUP (22.6 +/- 10.3 min). Minimal changes were observed in HR, fR and RT. In conclusion, duration of analgesia produced by LIG-BUP was shorter compared with BUP but longer compared with LIG. Neither LIG nor LIG-BUP has any advantage over epidural BUP in terms of onset of analgesia, time to standing and physiological responses. Therefore, lumbosacral epidural administration of BUP appears to be the best choice for a long surgical procedure lasting more than 1 hour when compared with either LIG or LIG-BUP.
Highlights
The administration of local anaesthetics into the epidural space is an established technique for producing regional anaesthesia in veterinary practice
Mean heart rate (HR) ranged from 192.8 ± 8.5 to 207.2 ± 5.6 with epidurally administered LIG and BUP mixture (LIG-BUP), from 200.0 ± 8.1 to 233.6 ± 15.9 with LIG and from 203.2 ± 14.9 to 227.2 ± 6.4 with BUP
Epidural block is often performed on heavily sedated or lightly anaesthetised cats because of their tendency to resist handling for even the simplest clinical procedure[10,13,14]
Summary
The administration of local anaesthetics into the epidural space is an established technique for producing regional anaesthesia in veterinary practice. Epidural anaesthesia may be used for any surgical procedure caudal to the diaphragm in critically ill animals, where appropriate anaesthetic delivery equipment is not readily available[10,13,14]. Conscious cats often resist handling for clinical procedures without additional chemical restraint and ketamine is frequently used for this purpose[10,12]. The use of epidural analgesia with lignocaine (LIG), amethocaine, xylazine, medetomidine, morphine and pethidine has been described in the cat[1,3,8,18]. The most frequently used epidural anaesthetic in all species is LIG, bupivacaine (BUP) is sometimes used. Whereas LIG is known to have excellent diffusion aDepartment of Veterinary Surgery and Reproduction, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
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