COMPARISON OF METHOHEXITAL AND ALFENTANIL ON MOVEMENT DURING PLACEMENT OF RETROBULBAR NERVE BLOCK

Citation
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
Citations number
21
Categorie Soggetti
Anesthesiology
Journal title
ISSN journal
00032999
Volume
79
Issue
2
Year of publication
1994
Pages
320 - 323
Database
ISI
SICI code
0003-2999(1994)79:2<320:COMAAO>2.0.ZU;2-U
Abstract
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.