Hippokratia 2003, 7(1):37-40
Ch Bratzou, A Efthimiou, D Iordanidou, M Milona, P Pappas, M Ventouri
3rd Anaesthesiology Dpt, Hippokratio General Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece
Abstract
The newer local anaesthetic agent ropivacaine has been extensively studied in adults as an agent of postoperative analgesia by means of surgical wound inf iltration. In our study we tried to evaluate the eficacy and safety of this agent for the same purpose in paediatric patients. 42 paediatric patients,1-8 years old,who underwent a minor procedure under general anesthesia, were included in the study.The surgical wound was inf iltrated with ropivacaine 0.5%up to 3 mg /kg B.W. Postoperatively and for 6 hours, wound pain and side effects were recorded. Thirty five patients (83.3%) did not need further postoperative analgesia. Three patients (7.1%) had episodes of postoperative nausea – vomiting, while intra-or postoperative complications by ropivacaine did not occur. Surgical wound infiltration with ropivacaine is a simple, effective and safe method of postoperative analgesia in the paediatric patient.