Epidural anaesthesia with mixtures of bupivacaine-lidocaine and etidocaine-lidocaine

Abstract

The mixtures of 0.5% bupivacaine- 1% lidocaine and 1% etidocaine- 1% lidocaine were used in a double-blind manner for lumbar epidural anaesthesia in 48 patients undergoing prostatectomy in order to study whether these mixtures speed up the onset of analgesia, shorten the long motor block, motor block, or improve the quality of analgesia caused by bupivacaine or etidocaine alone. The mixture of bupivacaine-lidocaine caused an analgesia with a somewhat faster onset, similar duration and markedly shorter motor block than bupivacaine alone. The sensory block produced by the mixture of etidocaine-lidocaine tended to begin more slowly and had a distinctly shorter duration, as was the motor block, as compared to the block caused by etidocaine alone. The analgesia was complete in all 12 patients who received bupivacaine and in 11/12 patients who received the mixture of bupivacaine-lidocaine, but 6/12 patients anaesthetized with etidocaine and 5/12 patients with the mixture of etidocaine-lidocaine experienced considerable visceral pain during the operation. The results suggest that the mixture of bupivacaine-lidocaine produces a block with somewhat better properties than bupivacaine alone, but the mixture of etidocaine-lidocaine does not offer any advantages as compared to etidocaine alone, except the shorter motor block.