COMPARISON OF POST OPERATIVE ANALGESIA FOLLOWING EPIDURAL BUPIVACAINE WITH CLONIDINE AND EPIDURAL BUPIVACAINE IN ORTHOPAEDIC LOWER LIMB SURGERIES

Abstract

Background Clonidine an alpha – 2 agonist drug, which was introduced into clinical practice as an antihypertensive medication, canbe used as an additive to local anaesthetics in nerve blockade and central neuraxial blockade. This study was designed to evaluate the analgesic efficacy of bupivacaine and clonidine mixture given through lumbar epidural route in patients undergoing elective orthopaedic lower limb surgeries ,comparing the quality of analgesia with epidural plain bupivacaine and also to calculate the number of post-operative aanalgesic doses required.