COMPARISON OF ROPIVACAINE WITH BUPIVACAINE FOR PEDIATRIC CAUDAL BLOCK

In a double-blind, multicentre study 245 children aged 1-10 yr undergo ing elective minor surgery as inpatients were randomly allocated to re ceive a single caudal extradural injection of 1 mi kg(-1) of either 0. 25% bupivacaine or 0.2% ropivacaine after induction of light general a naesthesia. The groups were comparable for age, weight, vital signs an d duration of surgery. The onset time was similar for ropivacaine and bupivacaine (9.7 vs 10.4 min). Further analgesia was not required in 4 0% of children. The mean time to first analgesia in the remainder was 233 min in the bupivacaine group and 271 min in the ropivacaine group. No motor block was measurable in either group. Ropivacaine 2 mg kg(-1 ) was as effective as bupivacaine 2.5 mg kg(-1) for caudal analgesia i n children.