Comparison of dexmedetomidine and clonidine as an adjuvant to levobupivacaine in supraclavicular brachial plexus block

Introduction: There are always efforts to find better and safer local anaesthetics along with adjuvants for supraclavicular brachial plexus block. Levobupivacaine has strongly emerged as a safer alternative for regional anaesthesia than its racemic sibling bupivacaine. Alpha 2 agonists are combined with local anaesthetics to improve the quality of regional anaesthesia. Method: A prospective randomized study was carried out which included 60 adult patients between the ages of 18-65 years of ASA grade I and II who underwent upper limb orthopaedic surgeries. Group A received 30 ml of 0.5% levobupivacaine with 150µg of clonidine and Group B received admixture of 30 ml of 0.5% levobupivacaine with 100 µg of Dexmedetomidine. Onset, duration of sensory and motor blockade and duration of analgesia were observed. Results: Duration of postoperative analgesia in group A was 14.36±0.36 minutes and in group B was 16.90±2.29 minutes. Hence from the above observation, the duration of analgesia in group B is longer than group A which is statistically highly significant (p<0.001). Conclusion: Dexmedetomidine as an adjuvant 0.5% levobupivacaine is more effective in prolonging the duration of sensory and motor block and post operative analgesia compare to clonidine as an adjuvant to 0.5% levobupivacaine.