Comparison of analgesic effect of intra-articular administration of levobupivacaine and clonidine versus ropivacaine and clonidine in day care knee arthroscopic surgery under spinal anesthesia

Abstract

Introduction: Intra-articular (IA) local anesthetics are often used for the management and prevention of pain after arthroscopic knee surgery. Clonidine prolongs the duration of local anesthetics. In this study, analgesic effect of intra-articular administration of levobupivacaine and clonidine was compared with ropivacaine and clonidine in knee joint arthroscopic surgery under spinal anesthesia. Method: 88 patients, aged between 15 to 55 years, ASA I and II undergoing knee arthroscopy under spinal anesthesia were assigned into two equal groups (n = 44) in a randomized double blind protocol. Patients in Group L received 10 ml of 0.50% levobupivacaine and 1 mcg/kg clonidine and Group R received 10 ml of 0.75% ropivacaine and 1 mcg/kg of clonidine through intra-articular route at the end of the procedure. In the post-operative period, pain intensity was assessed by VAS (Visual Analogue Scale) Score recorded at 1 st , 5 th , 8 th , 12 th , 18 th post-operative hours. Duration of analgesia, total rescue analgesic dose in first 18 hours and any side effects were also recorded. Result: Group L experienced significantly longer duration of effective postoperative analgesia and lesser rescue analgesic compared to group R. Group R had higher mean VAS score at 5 th and 12 th post-operative hours (P < 0.05). No side effects were observed among the groups. Conclusion: Intra-articular administration of levobupivacaine and clonidine give better post-operative pain relief by increasing duration of analgesia, and decreasing need of rescue analgesic compared to intra-articular ropivacaine and clonidine.