Locoregional pain relief

Pain relief in total hip procedures

Ropivacaine and levobupivacaine are two non-racemic, long acting local anesthetics. The claimed advantage of these local anesthetics versus racemic substances like bupivacaine is a reduced cardiotoxicity and reduced toxic effects on the central nervous system. This specifically acounts for the administration of large volumina of local anesthetics, for instance during peripheral nerve blockade.

In a doubleblind, randomized study, ropivacaine, levobupivacaine and bupivacaine are compared in patients undergoing a total hip procedure. For this procedure, a combined psoas-ischiadic blockade is used together with general anesthesia. The study aims to investigate the effects of the distinct anesthetics on toxicity, plasmalevels of the local anesthetic, analgetic potency, motoric complaints, perioperative blood loss, hemodynamic alterations and side effects due to peripheral nerve blockade.