The use of bupivacaine to relieve pain at iliac graft donor sites.

We report a prospective study to test the hypothesis that infiltrating the wound with bupivacaine during operations for the removal of iliac bone grafts will lead to a significant reduction of pain. Pain was assessed by a visual analogue scale applied at regular intervals. Bupivacaine infiltration appears to reduce pain for 24 hours, but only to a significant degree during the first 4 hours after operation.