Comparative study of 0.5% bupivacaine infiltration versus sterile water infiltration in tonsillar fossa during tonsillectomy performed under general anaesthesia

Abstract

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Tonsillectomy is a treatment of choice when medical line treatment is failed in chronic tonsillitis. Post tonsillectomy pain is the most common problem of this surgery which may persists for weeks and affect normal daily activities. Use of opiods and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for relieving pain may leads to nausea, vomiting and post tonsillectomy haemorrhages. We renewed interest in infiltration of local anaesthetic drug in the tonsillar fossa during tonsillectomy. To evaluate the efficacy of 0.5% bupivacaine infiltration in tonsillar fossa during tonsillectomy under general anaesthesia in terms of post-operative pain relief.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> It is double blinded prospective comparative study was carried out on 100 patients of either sex and age 5-40 years who diagnosed with chronic tonsillitis undergoing tonsillectomy and willing to participate in study were included.50 patients were infiltrated with sterile water and other 50 patients were infiltrated with 0.5% bupivacaine in the tonsillar fossa during tonsillectomy performed under general anaesthesia. Postoperatively at 2nd, 6th, 24th hours and 7th day all patients were evaluated for pain score by using visual analogue scale. </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> In our study, post-operative pain mean score 2nd, 6th, 24th hour and 7th day post-operative period for test and control group was “3.3 and 7.1”, “3.2 and 5.2”, “1.7 and 4.8” and “0.6 and 2.2” respectively which was found to be statistically significant (p<0.001).</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> 0.5% bupivacaine infiltration in the tonsillar fossa during tonsillectomy had lower pain score in post-operative period compare to sterile water infiltration.</p><p class="abstract"> </p>