Varaprasad Raghupatruni1, Sudhansu Patro2
BACKGROUND
General Anaesthesia (GA) is the most frequently used technique for all laparoscopic surgeries. The aim is to study the attenuation of physiological changes that are associated with laparoscopic surgeries by regional (epidural) analgesia when combined with general anaesthesia to compare the intraoperative variables after administering general anaesthesia and combined general anaesthesia with regional analgesia (epidural) in patients undergoing laparoscopic abdominal surgeries. Our aim is to compare the requirement of anaesthetic drugs between patients receiving only general anaesthesia and those receiving general anaesthesia with epidural analgesia.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
One hundred patients posted for laparoscopic abdominal surgeries were enrolled in this randomised controlled trial. They were randomly selected to undergo general anaesthesia or combined general anaesthesia with regional analgesia. Monitoring was done for heart rate, blood pressure, end-tidal carbon dioxide and awareness during anaesthesia.
RESULTS
Cardiovascular stability (heart rate and mean arterial blood pressure) was satisfactory in the intraoperative period in both the groups. The anaesthetic and analgesic drugs required were significantly lower in the combined general anaesthesia-regional analgesia group as compared to patients receiving only general anaesthesia.
CONCLUSION
The combined general anaesthesia-regional analgesia group has the advantage of more cardiovascular stability, lower requirement of analgesics and general anaesthetic agents/drugs.
