Identifying the Minimal Effective Dose of Dexmedetomidine Infusion for Post-Operative Pain Control in Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy Patients

Abstract

Objective: To compare the frequency of need of rescue analgesia and time of first rescue analgesia) of two different doses 0.2 μg/kg/h and 0.4 μg/kg/h of IV dexmedetomidine in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). Material and Methods: A total number of 68 patients planned for LC under general anesthesia were included from January-2020 to January-2021. The patients were randomly divided into two groups; group D1 patients received dexmedetomidine 0.2 μg/kg/h i.v and group D2: received dexmedetomidine0.4 μg/kg/h i.v. After shifting the patient in recovery unit, the need of rescue analgesia and time of first rescue analgesia was noted for each patient. Results: Mean age of patients was 42.64±13.54 years. There were 47 (69.12%) females and 21 (30.88%) male patients. Rescue analgesia was needed by 16 patients (47.1 %) in group D1 and 07 patients (20.6 %) in group D2. The time of first rescue analgesia was 167.50±11.64 minutes in groups D1 and 263.44±19.03 minutes in group D2 (p-value of <0.001). Conclusion: Dexmedetomidine in an infusion dosage of 0.4 µg/kg/hour is helpful in providing adequate postoperative analgesia. Keywords: Rescue analgesia, dexmedetomidine, laparoscopic cholecystectomy.