THERAPEUTICAL NOTES   

Chirurgia 1999 October;12(5):393-4

Copyright © 1999 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Intraoperative subcutaneous infiltration of bupivacaine to prevent surgical pain in microsurgical lumbar discectomy

Bucciero A.

This study evaluated 40 patients undergoing microsurgical lumbar discectomy for a single-level unilateral herniated nucleus pulposus. Twenty patients received 10 ml of 0.50% bupivacaine injected into the subcutaneous tissue at the conclusion of the operative procedure (Group A), whereas the remaining 20 patients acted as a control group, without adjuvant therapy administered intraoperatively (Group B). Patients in Group A didn't need intravenous ketoprofen in the first 24 postoperative hours; this compares with 9 requests for Group B (p=0.001). On the 1st post-operative day, the mean ranking (±SD) of incisional pain was 1.35±0.88 for patients in Group A, and 2.35±1.09 for those in Group B (p=0.008).