Department of Anaesthesiology, University Hospital of Geneva, CH-1211 Geneva 14, Switzerland*Corresponding author: Département dAnesthésiologie, Hôpital Cantonal Universitaire, CH-11 Genève 14, Switzerland
Presented in part at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiology, San Francisco, October 2000.
Accepted for publication: September 19, 2001
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Abstract |
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Methods. We performed a randomized double-blind study of 45 patients for elective total hip arthroplasty using continuous spinal anaesthesia. As soon as a pain score higher than 3 on a 10 cm visual analogue scale was reported, sufentanil 7.5 µg alone, sufentanil 7.5 µg + epinephrine 200 µg or sufentanil 7.5 µg + clonidine 30 µg in 2 ml normal saline was given intrathecally. Pain scores, rescue analgesia (diclofenac and morphine) and adverse effects (respiratory depression, postoperative nausea and vomiting, itching) were observed for 24 h after surgery.
Results. Time to a pain score of <3 [6 (SD 1) vs 6 (1) vs 5 (1) min], time to the lowest pain score [7 (2) vs 8 (2) vs 8 (2) min] and time to the first dose of systemic analgesic for a pain score >3 [281 (36) vs 288 (23) vs 305 (30) min] were similar in all three groups. Adverse effects and analgesic requirements during the first 24 h were also similar.
Conclusion. After total hip replacement, all three analgesic regimens gave good analgesia with comparable onset and duration of action, and minor adverse effects.
Br J Anaesth 2002; 89: 5626
Keywords: analgesics opioid, sufentanil; sympathetic nervous system, clonidine; sympathetic nervous system, epinephrine
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Introduction |
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A longer duration of analgesia after i.t. sufentanil would be useful for patients undergoing orthopaedic surgery. A longer action might be obtained by adding either epinephrine or clonidine, as found in obstetrics, in which epinephrine (200 µg)2 and clonidine (30 µg)10 mixed with sufentanil significantly prolong analgesia.
In this double-blind, randomized study we compared the speed of onset and duration of action after i.t. administration of sufentanil 7.5 µg alone and mixed with either epinephrine 200 µg or clonidine 30 µg for postoperative pain relief in elderly patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty.
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Methods |
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All patients were given morphine 0.1 mg kg1 s.c. 60 min before the operation, to obviate opioid supplements. These can be needed during surgery because of the prolonged lateral decubitus position, which sometimes causes shoulder pain. In the operating room, an i.v. infusion of lactated Ringer solution was started through a 17 gauge peripheral venous catheter. Electrocardiogram, non-invasive arterial blood pressure and peripheral oxygen saturation were measured and a urinary catheter was inserted. Continuous spinal anaesthesia was administered with the patient in the lateral position, operation side up, at the L23 or L34 intervertebral space using an 18 gauge Tuohy needle (epidural miniset), and a 20 gauge catheter was inserted 34 cm into the subarachnoid space. Injections of 0.5% isobaric bupivacaine 2.5 or 5 mg (Carbostesine®, Astra, Dietikon, Switzerland) were given as required. Surgery was performed to a standard plan.
After surgery, the i.t. catheter was flushed with normal saline 2 ml and left in place. Patients received oxygen by face mask. In the recovery room, when the pain score on the operated side was greater than 3/10 on a visual analogue scale (VAS; 0=no pain at all, 10=unbearable pain), the patients were randomly allocated (by the closed envelope technique) to one of the three study groups: group SUF received sufentanil 7.5 µg (Sufenta®, Janssen-Cilaf, Baar, Switzerland) alone, group SUF+EPI received sufentanil 7.5 µg with epinephrine 200 µg, and group SUF+CLO received sufentanil 7.5 µg with clonidine 30 µg, all in normal saline 2 ml through the i.t. catheter over 30 s. Study drugs were prepared by an anaesthetist who was the only person with access to the randomization list and was not otherwise involved in the study. The first author (RF) injected drugs blindly and tested the patients during the first hour. Afterwards, the patients were tested by the nurse in charge and, after leaving the recovery room, by ward nurses, who collected the data and gave the analgesics according to the study plan. Twenty-four hours after the i.t. opioid injection, one of the authors (RF or ZG) collated the data.
Pain score, sedation score (1=awake and alert; 2=awake but drowsy, responding to a verbal stimulus; 3=drowsy but rousable, responding to a physical stimulus; 4=unrousable, not responding to a physical stimulus), respiratory rate, oxygen saturation and haemodynamic changes were measured at i.t. injection and then every 2.5 min for the first 15 min, every 5 min for the next 45 min and every hour for the next 5 h. We noted times to VAS <3 (onset of action), to the lowest VAS and to the first systemic analgesic intervention (reappearance of hip pain, VAS >3) and recorded ketorolac (Toradol®, Roche, Reinach, Switzerland) and morphine requirements (rescue analgesia given by the systemic route) during the first 24 h after i.t. injection. We recorded side-effects of nausea and/or vomiting, pruritus (grade 1=mild, not disturbing; grade 2=moderate, disturbing but not requiring treatment; grade 3=severe, requiring treatment) and respiratory depression (respiratory rate < 8/min).
Patients could request systemic rescue analgesia if their pain score was still greater than 3/10 30 min after i.t. injection or after the i.t. analgesia regressed. Ketorolac 30 mg i.v. was available first, followed by morphine 0.1 mg kg1 s.c. if the VAS was still greater than 3/10 after 30 min. Afterwards, these analgesics were given on demand (pain score >3) with a maximum of three doses per 24 h for ketorolac and eight doses per 24 h for morphine.
Nausea and/or vomiting were treated with metoclopramide (Primperan®, Synthélabo, Lausanne, Switzerland) 10 mg i.v. and a reduction in mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) by more than 20% of resting value with ephedrine 5 mg i.v. and a rapid infusion of normal saline 250 ml. Clemastine (Tavegil®, Novartis, Bern, Switzerland) 2 mg i.v. was administered for severe pruritus and naloxone (Narcan®, Dupont Pharma, Bad Homburg, Germany) 40 µg i.v. was injected for respiratory depression (respiratory rate <8 b.p.m.). The patients only left the recovery room for the ward after receiving the first rescue analgesia.
Statistical analysis
Data are presented as mean (SD) or median (range) and groups were compared by analysis of variance or the KruskalWallis test as required; a P value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
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Results |
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Discussion |
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We added epinephrine 200 µg to sufentanil, as this dose is commonly used in obstetrics without circulatory effects.2 6 8 Cardiovascular effects of i.t. clonidine are a serious concern, and in our frail, elderly patients we gave a moderate dose of 30 µg, which seems to prolong the analgesic action of i.t. sufentanil in labour and to have acceptable effects on the circulation.1
The prolongation of analgesia by epinephrine has in the past been attributed to vasoconstriction, reducing the clearance of coadministered drugs from the subarachnoid space.9 However, epinephrine does not reduce the maximal plasma concentration of local anaesthetics.10 11 An alternative explanation for the prolongation of spinal anaesthesia by vasoconstrictors may be a direct effect on the nociceptive system in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord,12 where opioids and adrenergic agonists may interact. In cats, the suppression of nociception by fentanyl is increased by epinephrine.12 In humans, the effects of epinephrine in addition to i.t. sufentanil, which have been only described in labour, are controversial. A study8 of sufentanil 10 µg i.t. with or without epinephrine 200 µg reported a significant but small prolongation of analgesia from 115 to 132 min, and another showed pain relief for 90 min in both groups.6 Our data support this finding. Two other studies in labour suggest a more pronounced effect of epinephrine added to a mixture of bupivacaine and sufentanil. Gautier and colleagues13 found that a small dose of epinephrine (25 µg) added to bupivacaine 1 mg and sufentanil 5 µg i.t. prolonged the analgesia by about 40 min. Campbell and colleagues2 added a larger dose of epinephrine 200 µg to sufentanil 10 µg and bupivacaine 2.5 mg, and reported a prolongation of 43 min. Adding epinephrine to a mixture of local anaesthetic and opioids seems more efficient in prolonging analgesia than adding it to sufentanil alone, and the reason for this is not clear.
We found only a trend to prolongation of pain relief in the SUF+CLO group compared with the control SUF group (305 vs 281 min), whereas the addition of clonidine 30 µg to sufentanil 5 µg prolonged labour analgesia from 99 to 145 min1 and from 97 to 125 min.14 These differences may be related to the different type of pain, with an increasing and changing pattern during labour (somatic to visceral) compared with postoperative pain, which tends to decrease with time. Compared with labour analgesia, the pain relief in our elderly patients lasted 281 (36) min and the addition of clonidine 30 µg was probably not enough to improve the analgesia provided by sufentanil 7.5 µg alone. A larger dose of clonidine, e.g. 50 µg, might have provided a longer duration of pain relief, as demonstrated by dAngelo and colleagues,15 who found labour analgesia lasting 197 min after adding clonidine 50 µg to sufentanil 7.5 µg and bupivacaine 2.5 mg, and 132 min for sufentanilbupivacaine.
Clonidine extends labour analgesia when added to i.t. opioids, but causes hypotension.1 13 14 16 17 The incidence of hypotension was doubled by adding clonidine 30 µg to sufentanil 5 µg (25 vs 50%).1 Mercier and colleagues found that 63% of patients developed hypotension with the same analgesic regimen.14 Sia reported a decrease in blood pressure in 60% of parturients receiving bupivacaine 1.25 mg, sufentanil 5 µg and clonidine 30 µg compared with only 7% in a control group without clonidine.16 We found a maximal decrease in MAP, from the baseline value, of 22 and 23% in the SUF+EPI and SUF+CLO groups respectively, compared with 14% in the SUF control group (Table 4). The trend towards greater hypotension in the SUF+CLO group is not surprising,1 14 but a 22% decrease in blood pressure after adding epinephrine has not been described previously. Apart from profound analgesia reducing sympathetic activity, no other explanation is evident. The number of patients in this study may have been insufficient to detect other cardiovascular effects.
Pruritus was noted in 40% (18 out of 45 patients), with no differences between the groups. Severe itching requiring antihistamines occurred in five patients (11%).
These data are consistent with our previous report4 and well below the 80100% observed in obstetric studies.1 2 Pregnant women may be more susceptible than elderly patients, possibly for hormonal reasons. Epinephrine did not decrease the incidence of pruritus in our patients, contrary to Camman and colleagues study, in which pruritus was reduced by 50% in the epinephrine group.6
Postoperative nausea and/or vomiting was not statistically different between groups. We found no greater incidence in the SUF+EPI group, in contrast to the finding of Camman and colleagues (0% without epinephrine vs 35% with epinephrine).6
In conclusion, after total hip replacement, i.t. sufentanil alone or mixed with epinephrine or clonidine provides excellent analgesia (a pain score of 0 was achieved in all patients investigated), with comparable onset and duration of action. Clonidine and epinephrine tend to decrease blood pressure, so we do not recommend adding these agents to sufentanil.
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References |
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