ORIGINAL ARTICLES  ANESTHESIA Free access

Minerva Anestesiologica 2005 March;71(3):93-100

Copyright © 2005 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English, Italian

0.2% ropivacaine with or without sufentanil for patient-controlled epidural analgesia after anterior cruciate ligament repair

Berti M. ¹, Danelli G. ¹, Antonino F. A. ², Moizo E. ², Vinciguerra F. ², Casati A. ¹

¹ University of Parma Department of Anesthesia and Pain Therapy Ospedale Maggiore, Parma, Italy 2 Department of Anesthesiology Vita Salute University of Milan IRCCS Hospital San Raffaele, Milan, Italy

Aim: The aim of this prospective, randomized, double-blind study was to evaluate the effects of adding 0.5 µg/ml sufentanil to 0.2% ropivacaine for patient controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) on the quality of postoperative pain control in patients undergoing anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction.
Methods: Twenthy ASA physical status I-II patients, scheduled to have elective ACL repair were studied. Combined spinal-epidural anesthesia was performed at the L3-L4 or L4-L5 interspace using a needle-through-needle technique. Spinal anesthesia was induced with 10 mg of 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine. Postope-rative epidural analgesia was started at the end of surgery using a continuous epidural infusion of 0.2% ropivacaine alone (n=10) or 0.2% ropivacaine/0.5 mg mL-1 sufentanil (n=10). The degree of pain was evaluated at 1, 8, 16, 24 and 48 hours after surgery; at the same observation times the degree of motor block, sedation, oxygen saturation, total consumption of PCEA solution and incremental doses given to the patient were also recorded.
Results: No differences in the quality of intraoperative anesthesia was observed, and in no case general anesthesia was required to complete surgery. Patients receiving the combination of ropivacaine and sufentanil showed lower levels of VAS from 16 hours after surgery as compared with ropivacaine group (P=0.02). However, no differences in the degree of pain were observed between the 2 groups during continuous passive mobilization.
Conclusion: Adding 0.5 µg/ml sufentanil to 0.2% ropivacaine for patient controlled epidural analgesia improved pain control at rest but did not result in significant improvement of postoperative analgesia during continuous passive mobilization.