Comparison of clonidine and dexmedetomidine as an adjuvant to local anaesthesia in supraclavicular brachial plexus block for upper limb surgeries.

Introduction:Pain is an inevitable consequence of surgery. Surgical intervention to reduce human suffering is associated with pain and distress to patients.Upper limb surgeries are mostly performed under peripheral blocks(brachial plexus block) and also extend analgesia in the post-operative period.Various adjuvants has been used with local anaesthetic in past to enhance the sensory and motor block as well as for post operative analgesia. Alpha-2 adrenergic receptor agonists have been in the focus for their sedative, postoperative analgesic, intraoperatively & postoperatively haemodynamic stabilizing effects. Aims and objectives:To compare clonidine 1?g/kg and dexmedetomidine 1?g/kg used as an adjuvant to local anaesthetic (35 ml bupivacaine 0.25%) in supraclavicular brachial plexus block with respect to efficacy in onset and duration of sensory and motor block, potency and duration of analgesia. Material and methods:The present study was carried out on total 60 patients with ASA I and II , age between 18 to 60 years and were divided into Group C and Group D. Results:Onset of sensory and motor block in group C was 11.07?2.14 & 15.17?1.76 mins and 9.17?1.262 & 12.63?2.189. Time to complete sensory and motor in group C was 16.4?2.09 mins & 20.17?2.60 mins and group D was 14.8?1.37 mins & 16.4?3.02 mins respectively and was statistically significant (p>0.05) The duration of analgesia was (721.33 ? 88.27) min in D group and (516.00?45.15) min in C group and was statistically highly significant.(p>0.05). Conclusion:We concluded that dexmedetomidine with local anaesthetic in supraclavicular brachial plexus block enhance sensory and motor block and also the duration of analgesia with good hemodynamic stability and adequate sedation.