Local Bupivacaine Infiltration to Reduce Pain after Tonsillectomy: A Low Cost Approach

oleh: Rakesh B S, Bharathi M B, Thanzeemunisa U, Kumar Shankar De, Nitish Aggarwal

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: The Association of Otolaryngologists of India, West Bengal 2021-02-01

Deskripsi

Introduction Tonsillectomy is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures worldwide, with the major drawback of significant post operative pain.There is no consensus regarding topical application or local infiltration of anesthetics post operatively to reduce pain. The present study was performed to evaluate the effect of bupivacaine infiltration in the tonsillar fossae after tonsillectomy. Materials and Methods A double-blinded clinical trial was performed on 75 patients undergoing tonsillectomy between January 2019 and January 2020. All patients underwent tonsillectomy under general anesthesia and were then randomly divided into 3 groups of 25 patients each. For Group I, a swab soaked in normal saline was applied to the tonsillar fossae for 5 minutes just before extubation. In Group II, a swab soaked in 5 ml of 0.5% bupivacaine was placed for 5 minutes, while in Group III, 5ml of 0.5% bupivacaine was infiltrated in the tonsillar fossae. The intensity of pain for each group was measured in the immediate post op period, at6 hours, 24 hours and 1 week by Wong Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale. Results There was a significant difference in the mean level of pain between groups I and III in the immediate post op period, at 6 hours and 24 hours. Although the average pain scores of group III were better than those of group II, the results were significant only in the 6 hour post op period. Conclusion To reduce post-tonsillectomy pain,0.5% bupivacaine can be infiltrated into the tonsillar fossa.