Caudal ropivacaine-clonidine: A better post-operative analgesic approach.

The aim was to determine qualitative and quantitative aspects of caudal block, haemodynamic effects, and post-operative pain relief of ropivacaine 0.25% versus ropivacaine 0.25% with clonidine for lower abdominal surgeries in paediatric patients. A double-blind study was conducted among 44 paediatric patients in the Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care of our institute. A total of 44 ASA-I paediatric patients between the ages of 1 and 9 years, scheduled for elective hernia surgery, were enrolled in this randomised double-blind study. The caudal block was administered with ropivacaine 0.25% (Group I) and ropivacaine 0.25% and clonidine 2 µg/kg (Group II) after induction with general anaesthesia. Haemodynamic parameters were observed before, during and after the surgical procedure. Post-operative analgesic duration, total dose of rescue analgesia, pain scores and any side effects were looked for and recorded. All the results were tabulated and analysed statistically. The variables in the two groups were compared using the non-parametric tests. For all statistical analyses, the level of significance was P < 0.05. Forty-four patients were enrolled in this study and their data were subjected to statistical analysis: 22 patients in both the groups were comparable with regard to demographic data, haemodynamic parameters and other vitals and were statistically non-significant (P>0.05). The duration of analgesia was significantly prolonged in Group II (P<0.05). The dose requirement for post-operative pain relief was also significantly lesser in Group II. The incidences of side effects were almost comparable and non-significant. A caudal block with 0.25% of isobaric ropivacaine combined with 2 µg/kg of clonidine provides efficient analgesia intra-operatively and prolonged duration of analgesia post-operatively.