Abstract :
Background: For better pain management during lower limb surgeries, various adjuvants have been used intrathecally along with local anaesthetics. Spinal anesthesia is a widely used technique for lower limb surgeries, but it is often accompanied by side effects such as nausea and vomiting. Various pharmacological interventions have been explored to mitigate these side effects, including intrathecal atropine and dexamethasone. This study aims to compare the efficacy of intrathecal atropine and intrathecal dexamethasone in preventing nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing lower limb surgeries under spinal anesthesia Material and Methods: This prospective, randomized, double-blind study was conducted at ASCOMS, Jammu over one year on 100 Patients randomly divided into two groups with one group receiving 0.2 mg of intrathecal atropine along with 12mg of 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine and another group receiving 5 mg of intrathecal dexamethasone along with 12mg of 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine. The primary outcome measure was the incidence of nausea and vomiting in the intraoperative and postoperative periods. Secondary outcomes included characteristics of the spinal block, hemodynamic changes, and any adverse effects. Results: In both groups, there was no statistical difference in respect of age, sex, BMI, ASA physical status, duration of surgery, Mean Arterial pressure and HR. It was observed that the occurrence of postoperative nausea and post-operative vomiting was less in group A cases (atropine group) as compared to group B (dexamethasone group) cases (p=0.048 and 0.026 respectively). Conclusion: In conclusion, intrathecal atropine is more effective than intrathecal dexamethasone in preventing nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing lower limb surgeries under spinal anesthesia
Keyword :
Intrathecal, Nausea and Vomiting, hemodynamic changes