Jb. Yee et al., COMPARISON OF METHOHEXITAL AND ALFENTANIL ON MOVEMENT DURING PLACEMENT OF RETROBULBAR NERVE BLOCK, Anesthesia and analgesia, 79(2), 1994, pp. 320-323
We compared the use of methohexital (0.5 mg/kg) with alfentanil (20 mu
g/kg) as a drug for limiting movement and pain during the placement o
f a retrobulbar block (RBB). Thirty patients (ASA class I-III) were ra
ndomly assigned to receive either methohexital or alfentanil (15 patie
nts in each group). All but two patients (87%) treated with alfentanil
were awake and responsive to command. All of the patients given metho
hexital were unresponsive at the time of block placement. However, les
s movement was observed when patients were treated with alfentanil com
pared to methohexital (P < 0.0002). None of the patients treated with
alfentanil complained of pain during placement of the RBB. No differen
ce was detected in the incidence of respiratory depression. However, o
ne patient who received alfentanil had a prolonged period of apnea (ap
proximately 30 s) with a significant decrease in oxygen saturation. Th
e incidence of nausea and vomiting and the time to discharge from the
outpatient department were similar in the two groups. The results of t
his study suggest that alfentanil may be used as a single drug to limi
t movement during placement of retrobulbar block for ophthalmic surger
y.