European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Background and objectives: Epidural analgesia is a safe technique for post-operative pain relief and equivalent to traditional analgesic methods. Epidural narcotics have been extensively used for post- operative analgesia. In a quest to find a better and safer alternative to older drugs like morphine this study was undertaken to compare the safety and efficacy of postoperative analgesia with epidural butorphanol and epidural tramadol in patients undergoing orthopaedic lower limb surgeries.
Methods: A total of 100 patients of either sex, belonging to 20-60 yrs of age, ASA grade I and II admitted for orthopedic lower limb surgeries in the department of Anesthesiology, DMCH Darbhanga. were selected randomly for the study. Combined spinal-epidural was administered to all the patients. Postoperatively when patient complained of pain (Visual Analog Scale > 4), either butorphanol 1mg or tramadol 50mg diluted to 10ml was given epidurally and all the parameters were recorded.
Conclusion: Epidural butorphanol (1mg) is a safe and efficacious drug for post-operative analgesia. Epidural butorphanol provides a rapid, excellent but shorter duration of analgesia when compared to epidural tramadol. It has mild sedation which is advantageous in the postoperative period.