The effect of ketamine on 0.25% and 0.125% bupivacaine for caudal epidural blockade in children

Summary Forty boys aged from one to five years undergoing orchidopexy were randomly allocated to receive one of two solutions for caudal epidural injection. Group A received 1 ml??kg −1 of 0.125% bupivacaine with ketamine 0.5 mg??kg −1 and Group B received 1 ml??kg −1 of bupivacaine 0.25% with ketamine 0.5 mg??kg −1 . Postoperative pain was assessed by means of a modified Objective Pain Score and analgesia was administered if this score exceeded four. The median duration of caudal analgesia was 8 h in Group A compared with 9.5 h in Group B ( P <0.05). The time taken to recover the ability to walk was a median of two h in Group A and three h in Group B ( P <0.05). There were no differences between the groups in the incidence of urinary retention or postoperative sedation.