Pain management and bupivacaine

Abstract

Background: Pain is an unpleasant experience associated with tissue damage. Peripheral tissue injury results in functional disturbances in the nervous system. Modern anaesthesiologists are not only concerned about preoperative and intraoperative care of the patient but also with postoperative welfare of the patient.Methods: In present study we have compared the efficacy of injection bupivacaine 0.25% infiltration preoperatively versus postoperatively on duration of postoperative analgesia, VAS (visual analogue scale) at the onset of pain, total analgesia requirement in 24 hours. 150 patients belonging to ASA (American society of anesthesiologists) class I and II between the age of 15 and 75 who underwent lower abdominal surgeries belonging to either sex were included in the study. The patients were randomly allocated to three groups. Control group (C) received 20 ml normal saline, preoperative group (A) received 0.25% bupivacaine before incision, postoperative group (B) received 0.25% bupivacaine before closure.Results: Duration of analgesia, VAS score at the time of first request of analgesia and total doses of analgesia over 24 hours were recorded. The total analgesia requirement was reduced over 24 hours in the group B in which the infiltration was done postoperatively.Conclusions: The postoperative infiltration with 0.25% bupivacaine produces longer duration and better quality of analgesia as compared to preoperative infiltration.