Controlled trial of wound infiltration with bupivacaine for post operative pain relief after caesarean section

Abstract EN

Objective : The aim of this study was to prove that the use of 0.25 % Bupivacaine infiltrated in the surgical wound, is effective for postoperative analgesia.

Methods : The study was conducted on 45 patients who underwent elective or emergency caesarean section at Prince Hashim Ben Al-Hussein hospital, between January and April 1999.

Patients were allocated randomly to three groups, A, B and C respectively, to receive general anesthesia and Bupvacaine (Group A,n = 15), spinal anesthesia and 0.25 % Bupivacaine (group B,n = 15), or only general anesthesia with no supplementation of Bupivacaine at the end of surgery (Control group C, n = 15).

Patients were evaluated on an hourly basis for 24 hours using a visual analogue pain scale (VAS), starting from the end of the surgery.

The dose for pethidine consumption was also recorded.

Results : It was found from the study that neither group A nor group B required any dose of pethidine (the traditional drug used), in the first 6 hours post operatively.

While all patients from group C required at least one dose of pethidine.

The time taken from the end of the surgery to the first request for analgesia was 6-8 hours for group A, 8-12 hours for group B (spinal), and 0 for group C (control).

Conclusion : The use of 0.25 % Bupivacaine by wound infiltration is effective for post operative pain relief, as it reduces the requirements for additional post operative analgesia.