Clonidine as an adjuvant to local anaesthetic axillary brachial plexus block: a randomized, controlled study
A Duma, B Urbanek, C Sitzwohl, A Kreiger, M Zimpfer, S Kapral, A Duma, B Urbanek, C Sitzwohl, A Kreiger, M Zimpfer, S Kapral
Abstract
Background: We compared the effects of clonidine added to levobupivacaine and bupivacaine on axillary brachial plexus block as well as the effectiveness of levobupivacaine alone compared with bupivacaine alone.
Methods: In this prospective, randomized, controlled, double-blind trial, four groups of 20 patients each were investigated, using (i) 40 ml of levobupivacaine 0.5% plus 0.150 mg of clonidine, (ii) 40 ml of levobupivacaine 0.5% plus 1 ml of NaCl 0.9%, (iii) 40 ml of bupivacaine 0.5% plus 0.150 mg of clonidine, and (iv) 40 ml of bupivacaine 0.5% plus 1 ml of NaCl 0.9%, respectively. The onset of motor and sensory block and duration of sensory block were recorded.
Results: There was no significant difference in duration between groups, but a significantly higher variance (P<0.001) was found in the two groups with clonidine than in the two groups without.
Conclusions: These findings suggest responder and non-responder behaviour is a result of the addition of clonidine.
Source: PubMed