Epidural clonidine or sufentanil for intraoperative and postoperative analgesia

This study contrasts the efficacy and side effects of epidural clonidine and sufentanil in the perioperative period. Using a randomized, prospective, double-blind study design, 40 patients undergoing abdominal surgery under propofol/nitrous oxide anesthesia were enrolled. Before anesthesia, an epidural catheter was inserted at the L1-L2 interspace. At induction of anesthesia, the patients received epidurally either clonidine (4 micrograms/kg in 10 mL) infused in 20 min followed by a 2-micrograms.kg-1.h-1 infusion (5 mL/h) during 12 h (Group 1) or sufentanil (0.5 microgram/kg in 10 mL) in 20 min followed by a 0.25-microgram.kg-1.h-1 infusion (5 mL/h) during 12 h (Group 2). Intraoperatively, increases in arterial blood pressure and heart rate not responding to propofol bolus (0.5 mg/kg) were treated with a bolus of intravenous (IV) sufentanil 0.035 microgram/kg. Postoperatively, IV sufentanil boluses (5 micrograms) were given through a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) device. Postoperative analgesia was assessed by recording the IV PCA sufentanil requirements and the patients' visual analog scale (VAS) at 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, and 48 h. Sedation analog scales and side effects were also recorded. Plasma clonidine and sufentanil concentrations were measured after 20 min and 6, 12, and 24 h. The number of reinjections of propofol (n = 1.6 +/- 1.6 in Group 1 vs 6.5 +/- 4.0 in Group 2) and of IV sufentanil (n = 0.6 +/- 0.8 in Group 1 vs 3.8 +/- 3.7 in Group 2) was significantly reduced (P < 0.001) in the epidural clonidine group. In the early postoperative period, pain scores and rescue analgesic requirements were very low in both groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)