Effect of the addition of alfentanil to lignocaine during axillary brachial plexus anaesthesia

Peripheral administration of opioids has been suggested as a means of improving regional block. We studied 60 patients receiving axillary brachial plexus anaesthesia, allocated randomly to receive either normal saline 10 ml or normal saline 10 ml with alfentanil 10 micrograms/kg body weight through...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of anaesthesia : BJA 1996-06, Vol.76 (6), p.802-805
Main Authors: Gormley, W P, Murray, J M, Fee, J P, Bower, S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Alfentanil
Analgesics, Opioid
Anesthesia Recovery Period
Anesthesia, Conduction
Anesthetics, Local
Anesthetics. Neuromuscular blocking agents
Biological and medical sciences
Brachial Plexus
Drug Therapy, Combination
Female
Humans
Lidocaine
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Neuropharmacology
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Peripheral administration of opioids has been suggested as a means of improving regional block. We studied 60 patients receiving axillary brachial plexus anaesthesia, allocated randomly to receive either normal saline 10 ml or normal saline 10 ml with alfentanil 10 micrograms/kg body weight through an axillary cannula. All patients received 1.5% lignocaine at a dose of 7 mg/kg body weight with adrenaline 1 in 200,000. The incidence of satisfactory block was similar in both groups. Although the percentage of patients with complete anaesthesia in the median nerve distribution was greater in the alfentanil group, there was no significant difference in any other distribution. The time to return of sensation and motor function was prolonged significantly in the alfentanil group (P < 0.05). After return of normal sensation, there was no significant difference between groups in postoperative analgesia. In a second part of the study, there was no significant increase in plasma concentrations of alfentanil in 10 patients given lignocaine and alfentanil, as outlined above. These observations suggest that alfentanil may have a peripheral local anaesthetic action.
ISSN:0007-0912
1471-6771
DOI:10.1093/bja/76.6.802