Comparison of Low-dose Epidural With Intravenous Narcotic Versus Intravenous Narcotic Alone

Post-operative pain in patients undergoing osteotomy can be severe. Current methods of treatment involve parenteral narcotics and regional anesthesia. Several studies have looked at the efficacy of regional anesthesia with various combinations of local anesthetic and additives in different populations. However, to our knowledge there have been none that directly compare bupivacaine/clonidine epidural with supplemental narcotics to parenteral narcotics alone. Many studies substantiate the efficacy of bupivacaine and clonidine as effective drugs for epidural analgesia (1,2,3). Parenteral narcotic alone is associated with the possibility of significant side effects, overdose, and inadequate analgesia. Epidural analgesia has been shown to reduce postoperative pain scores more than parenteral narcotics (4). We believe that this study is important since the protocol allows additional parenteral narcotic in the epidural group if needed, and also allows for narcotic dosing prior to discontinuation of the epidural to compensate for rebound pain. Further, the prolongation of pain control shown with epidural clonidine may be beneficial during the transition (5,6).