Clonidine versus sufentanil as an adjuvant to ropivacaine in patient-controlled epidural labour analgesia: A randomised double-blind trial

BACKGROUND: Adjuvants to local anaesthetics for epidural labour analgesia are useful if they reduce side-effects or personnel requirements. Epidural clonidine improves analgesia and provides a significant local anaesthetic-sparing effect. OBJECTIVE: To compare the number of rescue doses administered by the anaesthesiologist when clonidine or sufentanil is added to epidural ropivacaine. DESIGN: A randomised double-blind trial. SETTING: Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, from June 2009 to June 2010. PATIENTS: One hundred and ninety-five women in labour. INTERVENTION: Epidural analgesia initiated with 10 ml ropivacaine 0.1%, women randomised to receive patient-controlled epidural analgesia (5 ml demand bolus, 15 min lockout) with ropivacaine 0.1% and sufentanil 0.25 μg ml−1 (RS group; n = 65), or ropivacaine 0.1% and clonidine 1.5 μg ml−1 (RC1.5 group; n = 65) or ropivacaine 0.1% and clonidine 3 μg ml−1 (RC3 group; n = 65). Rescue analgesia was available as needed – 10 ml ropivacaine 0.1% (numerical rating scale
Source: European Journal of Anaesthesiology - Category: Anesthesiology Tags: Regional anaesthesia Source Type: research