UNILATERAL SPINAL ANAESTHESIA

Objectives: To see the effects of adding pethidine to intrathecal bupivacaine on duration of post operative analgesia inpatients undergoing hip surgery. Design: A randomized placebo controlled observational study. Setting C M H Multan: Period: From March2006 to April 2007. Patient and Methods: A total of 90 male patients of age 60-75 years of comparable weight and height and ASAstatus II, III were selected. Patients were divided into two groups, group A and group B. Each group consisted of 45 patients. All patients wereassessed pre operatively a day before surgery and were briefed about the procedure. Results: All the patients were prepared before givingspinal anaesthesia. Patients in Group- A were given a mixture 01 ml of 0.75 bupivacaine and 0.2 ml of normal saline in lateral decubitus positionwith operating side down by using 23 G spinal needle. Patients in Group-B were given a mixture of 01 ml of 0.75 % bupivacaine and 0.2 mlof inj. pethidine 10mg in lateral decubitus position with operating side down by using 23 G spinal needle. All the patients were kept in lateraldecubitus position for 10 minutes to achieve unilateral block. Intra operative adverse effects like hypotension, nausea, vomiting, pruritis anddelayed respiratory depression and effective duration of post operative analgesia was recorded. Conclusion Addition of 10 mg pethidine tointrathecal hyperbaric bupivacaine is associated with prolonged postoperative analgesia and minimal side effects like hypotension, pruritis, anddelayed respiratory depression. However incidence of nausea and vomiting was much more