ISSN:
1460-9592
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Background: Clonidine is often used to improve the duration and quality of analgesia produced by caudal epidural blockade, although the optimum dose of clonidine with bupivacaine remains uncertain. Methods: We compared the effect of clonidine, 1 and 2 μg·kg–1, added to bupivacaine (1.25 mg·kg–1) with that of bupivacaine alone in 75 male children undergoing elective circumcision. Results: There was a trend towards increasing duration of analgesia with increasing dose of clonidine [group B (bupivacaine) 280.7 (171.6) min, C1 (bupivacaine + clonidine 1 μg·kg–1) 327.8 (188.3) min and C2 (bupivacaine + clonidine 2 μg·kg–1) 382.0 (200.6) min], although this difference was not statistically significant. Mean time to arousal from anaesthesia was significantly prolonged with clonidine 2 μg kg–1 (group C2 21.3 (13–36) min, group C1 14.0 (6–25) min and group B 14.4 (2–32) min. Supplementary analgesic requirements and incidence of adverse effects were low, with no differences between the groups. Conclusions: For paediatric circumcision, under general anaesthesia, the addition of clonidine 2 μg·kg–1 to low volume (0.5 ml·kg–1) caudal anaesthetics has a limited clinical benefit for children undergoing circumcision.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1460-9592.2001.00748.x
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