Paravertebral Ropivacaine 0.5 Percent Versus Saline Infiltration on Postoperative Pain Scores and Requirement of Rescue Analgesic

This study was designed to determine whether ropivacane decreases the severity of acu te post - thoracotomy pain scores and whether ropivacane decreases the dosage and need of rescue analgesics in comparison with placebo. In our study Patients were randomly assigned in a blinded fashion to receive either 0.5 % ropivacaine or p lacebo. B etween March 2012 and march 2013, 63 patients underwen t thoracotomy in our hospital. 53 subjects were randomized to receive either 0.5 % ropivacaine (n = 28) or saline (n = 25). Pain scores (at rest, during deep breathing, and coughing), intra - op erative opioid requirement, requirement of rescue analgesics and adverse events were assessed for 12 hours. Mean opioid (morphine) requirement in the ropivacaine group was 5.786 mg (SD 1.272), while as the mean requirement of morphine in the saline group was 6.0 mg (SD 1.299), the difference in the intraoperative opioid requirement was statistically insignificant (p value = 0.5472). Mean paracetamol requirement at 6 hours post - procedure was 0.18 g (SD 0.39) in t he ropivacaine group and 0.52 g (SD 0.51) in the saline group, the difference between the groups was statistically highly significant (p value = 0.0081). O ur study concluded that ropivacaine 0.5 % improves pain scores. It is also concluded that ropivacaine 0.5 % in comparison to placebo decreases the requirement and dosage of rescue analgesics.