​Isoflurane Sparing Effect of Continuous Rate Infusion of Lignocaine as An Adjunct to General Anaesthesia during Right Flank Laparotomy in Cattle

Abstract

Background: Large ruminants are considered as high risk anaesthesia patient for abdominal surgery because of their heavy weight, the late-term gravidity and the expected long duration of anaesthesia. In order to augment cardiopulmonary function, we aimed at decreasing the requirement of inhalant agents for surgery. Several studies have revealed that lignocaine infusion significantly reduces the minimum alveolar concentration (MAC) of inhalation agents in a variety of species. Thus the present study is focused on assessing the adjunct property of intravenous lignocaine CRI in multimodal general anaesthetic protocol employed for intestinal surgery in cattle. Methods: The study was carried out in 12 clinical cases of cattle which were randomly categorized into two equally groups. All the animals were premedicated with dexmedetomidine and butorphanol tartrate at the dose rate of 0.5 µg per kg and 0.02 mg per kg body weight i.v. respectively. After five minutes of premedication, induction of anaesthesia was achieved with double drip solution containing ketamine hydrochloride 2 mg and guaifenesin 50 mg per mL respectively, administered i.v. “to effect”. Anaesthesia was maintained with isoflurane in all the animals. In group II animals ten minutes prior to skin incision, slow intravenous lignocaine bolus at the dose rate of 2 mg per kg and continuous rate infusion at the dose rate of 50 µg per kg per min was delivered through volumetric infusion pump. Result: The Isoflurane liquid utilised for maintenance decreased significantly in group II than group I, which signifies that the inclusion of lignocaine in the anaesthetic protocol has 14.95 per cent isoflurane sparing effect.