Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 24, 2026
An Experimental Paradigm for the Prediction of Post-Operative Pain PPOP
Published on: January 27, 2010
Evaluation of caudal dexamethasone with ropivacaine for post-operative analgesia in paediatric herniotomies: A
Santosh Choudhary1, Neelam Dogra1, Jaideep Dogra2
1Department of Anaesthesia and Critical Care, Sawai Man Singh Medical College and Hospital, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.
Background And Aims:
Caudal analgesia is one of the most popular regional blocks in paediatric patients undergoing infra-umbilical surgeries but with the drawback of short duration of action after single shot local anaesthetic injection. We evaluated whether caudal dexamethasone 0.1 mg/kg as an adjuvant to the ropivacaine improved analgesic efficacy after paediatric herniotomies.
Methods:
Totally 128 patients of 1-5 years age group, American Society of Anaesthesiologists physical status I and II undergoing elective inguinal herniotomy were randomly allocated to two groups in double-blind manner. Group A received 1 ml/kg of 0.2% ropivacaine caudally and Group B received 1 ml/kg of 0.2% ropivacaine, in which 0.1 mg/kg dexamethasone was added for caudal analgesia. Post operative pain by faces, legs, activity, cry and consolability tool score, rescue analgesic requirement and adverse effects were noted for 24 h.
Results:
Results were statistically analysed using Student's t-test. Pain scores measured at 1, 2, 4, and 6 h post-operative, were lower in Group B as compared to Group A. Mean duration of analgesia in Group A was 248.4 ± 54.1 min and in Group B was 478.046 ± 104.57 min with P = 0.001. Rescue analgesic requirement was more in Group A as compared to Group B. Adverse effects after surgery were comparable between the two groups.
Conclusion:
Caudal dexamethasone added to ropivacaine is a good alternative to prolong post-operative analgesia with less pain score compared to caudal ropivacaine alone.
