Comparative Study of Epidural Fentanyl and Buprenorphine for Post Operative Analgesia in Lower Abdominal and Lower Limb Surgeries

Abstract

This study was conducted on 60 adult patients of either sex, 20-60 years of age group belonging to ASA I and II scheduled for lower abdomen and lower limbs surgeries were randomly divided into two groups of 30 each to receive 200 microgram of fentanyl dissolved in 10 ml of normal saline (Group I) or 600 microgram of buprenorphine dissolved in 10 ml of normal saline (Group II). When patient complaint of pain, they were given the drugs through the epidural cannula and then the cannula was removed. Patients Pulse rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation were recorded before injecting the drugs which were taken as control and at 10 minutes intervals for the first 30 minutes and thereafter hourly for 24 hours. Patients were assessed for pain relief, onset and duration of analgesia, side effects like headache, nausea, vomiting, pruritis, drowsiness and urinary retention, The onset of analgesia was earlier with group I. The duration of analgesia was 30 hours with group II and 6 hours with group I. Fentanyl causes pruritis, headache and drowsiness but other systemic side effects like nausea, vomiting, and urinary retention are more common with epidural buprenorphine.