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Epidural bupivacaine for aortic surgery The effect of dilution on the quality of analgesia
Author(s) -
SLADE J. M.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.839
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2044
pISSN - 0003-2409
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2044.1994.tb03306.x
Subject(s) - medicine , bupivacaine , anesthesia , alfentanil , epidural space , abdominal surgery , surgery , fentanyl
Summary Twenty patients undergoing elective abdominal aortic aneurysm repair were randomly allocated to two groups and studied for 24 h following surgery. Postoperative analgesia was provided by epidural bupivacaine infusion and intravenous patient‐controlled 0.05 mg boluses of alfentanil. One treatment group received 7 ml.h ‐1 of a 0.25% solution of bupivacaine, the other 25 ml.h ‐1 of a 0.07% solution. The rate of infusion was thus 17.5 mg.h ‐1 in both groups. Patients receiving 7 ml.h ‐1 of epidural infusate required more doses of alfentanil (median 26.5, range 0‐50) than the group receiving 25 ml.h ‐1 of the dilute infusion (median 3.0, range 0–16). It is concluded that 17.5 mg.h ‐1 of bupivacaine infused into the epidural space produces better analgesia when infused in a volume of 25 ml.h ‐1 (0.07%) than when given in a volume of 7ml.h ‐1 of solution (0.25%).