Comparison of analgesic efficacy of levobupivacaine, levobupivacaine and clonidine, and levobupivacaine and dexmedetomidine in wound infiltration technique for abdominal surgeries: A prospective randomized controlled study

Background: This study was designed to evaluate the postoperative analgesic efficacy of levobupivacaine (L) alone and its combination with clonidine (C) or dexmedetomidine (D) in wound infiltration technique for abdominal surgeries. Materials and Methods: After ethical committee approval, a double-blind randomized controlled study was conducted on 90 patients (power of study 80%), physical status American Society of Anesthesiologists Grade I and II, aged 18–60 years scheduled for abdominal surgeries over 1 year duration. A standard general anesthetic technique was used. Patients were randomly allocated into three groups, by computer-generated random number table. Patients received wound infiltration during wound closure. Group L received 29 ml of 0.25% levobupivacaine plus 1 ml 0.9% normal saline, Group LC received 29 ml of 0.25% levobupivacaine with 1 ml (3 mcg/kg) clonidine, and Group LD received 29 ml of 0.25% levobupivacaine with 1 ml (2 mcg/kg) dexmedetomidine. Postoperative rescue analgesia was provided with injection tramadol. Statistical analysis for duration of analgesia was determined by one-way analysis of variance and side effects by Chi-square test. Results: The total duration of analgesia in LD group was 23.4 h, when compared to LC group 20.9 h and L group 11.65 h (P = 0.0001) with excellent to good quality of analgesia in adjuvant group (P < 0.001) and incidence of minimal side effects such as sedation, nausea, and vomiting. Conclusion: Clonidine and dexmedetomidine were the effective adjuvants to levobupivacaine for single shot wound infiltration analgesic technique; however, dexmedetomidine was found to be superior to clonidine.