Background: Infraumbilical surgeries are most commomly done under spinal anesthesia. Many local anesthetic drugs and adjuvants have been used to prolong the effects of local anesthetics. The sample size calculation was done according to results of our pilot study and discussion with the institutional review board. The primary objective is to compare the sensory-motor characteristics of the two drugs and the secondary objective is to compare the duration of analgesia and assess perioperative hemodynamic stability and incidence of side effects during the study period.
Methods: The present prospective randomized study was conducted from April to October 2023. After written informed consent 180 patients posted for elective infraumbilical surgery were randomly divided into two groups of 90 patients each based on closed envelope method.
Group RC: 3 ml of 0.75% hyperbaric Ropivacaine + 30 µg clonidine in 0.5 ml normal saline.
Group RD: 3 ml of 0.75% hyperbaric Ropivacaine + 5 µg Dexmedetomidine in 0.5 ml normal saline.
Results: It was observed that the dexmedetomidine group had a faster sensory onset (4.5 ± 3.54 mins), faster motor onset(5 ± 3.54 mins) and longer duration of postoperative analgesia (310.11 ± 14.14 mins) as compared to the clonidine group (6.8 ± 1.41mins; 7.4 ± 2.83 mins; 240.22 ± 7.07mins respectively). The incidence of side effects such as nausea, vomiting, shivering, hypotension and bradycardia were also less in comparison to the clonidine group.
Conclusion: It was observed that dexmedetomidine offered a faster onset and prolonged duration of postoperative analgesia as compared to clonidine.