European Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine

Objectives: Adding adjuvants to local anaesthetics hastens the onset and prolongs the duration of blocks with favourable postoperative analgesia. The principal objective of our study was to compare the duration of postoperative analgesia between the two intrathecal opioids (as adjuvants with bupivacaine). This prospective, randomized, double blind study was conducted at a tertiary care centre. Techniques: After institutional ethical committee approval and informed patient consent, sixty healthy patients who were scheduled for elective lower extremity surgery under spinal anaesthesia were divided into two equal groups and enrolled in the study. They received 15 mg of hyperbaric bupivacaine 0.5% with either nalbuphine 0.4mg (Group N) or fentanyl 25 mcg (Group F) Onset time and duration of sensory blockade along with 2 segment regression of sensory blockade were noted. Time for onset of complete motor block and duration of effective analgesia were also noted. Adverse effects, if any, were noted. Quantitative data are presented as means and standard deviations and confidence intervals, while qualitative data are presented as proportions. An independent t-test and a chi-square test for proportions were used to compare the significance of differences in the means using R software 3.2.2 version. P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Post operative analgesia lasted significantly longer in the nalbuphine group compared to the fentanyl group. Conclusion: Thus, nalbuphine is a better adjuvant to bupivacaine than fentanyl when administered intrathecally for lower extremity surgical procedures in terms of duration of postoperative analgesia.