Is amalgamated ligno-bupivacaine an answer to complicated minor oral surgical anesthesia? A randomized split-mouth double-blind clinical trial

Evaluation of Targeted Bupivacaine, Bupivacaine-lidocaine-epinephrine, Dexamethasone, and Meloxicam for Reducing Acute Postoperative Pain in Cats Undergoing Routine Ovariohysterectomy

This study compared bupivacaine (BUP), bupivacaine-lidocaine-epinephrine (BLE), dexamethasone (DEX), and meloxicam (MEL) targeted at specific, potentially painful sites for reducing acute postoperative pain in cats undergoing elective ovariohysterectomy. One hundred fifty-one cats were included in a prospective, randomized, double-blinded clinical trial. Anesthesia consisted of a standardized protocol including buprenorphine, ketamine, dexmedetomidine, and isoflurane. A ventral midline ovariohysterectomy was performed, and cats were administered targeted injections of 0.5% bupivacaine (2 mg/kg); a combined 0.25% bupivacaine (1 mg/kg), 1% lidocaine (2 mg/kg), and 1:100,000 epinephrine (0.005 mg/kg); dexamethasone (0.125 mg/kg); or meloxicam (0.2 mg/kg) intraoperatively at the ovarian suspensory ligaments, uterine body, and incisional subcutaneous tissues. A 0-10 Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NRS) was used to assess cats postoperatively, 1 hour and 3 hours after anesthesia recovery prior to a same day discharge. Pain scores among evaluators were in good agreement with an overall Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) of 0.7897 (95% Confidence Interval 0.795-0.8313).  In all groups, overall pain scores 1-hour post anesthesia recovery were significantly higher than scores 3 hours post anesthesia recovery (P < .0001). Averaged pain scores compared among treatment groups did not differ at 1 hour post recovery. At 3-hours post anesthesia recovery, MEL group cats had significantly lower pain scores than the BLE group (P = .018). Study results indicate that early postoperative pain scores were similar for cats receiving local infiltrations of BUP, BLE, DEX, and MEL as part of a multimodal pain therapy for routine ovariohysterectomies. MEL showed somewhat better results 3 hours post anesthesia recovery, gaining significance over the BLE group.

Effectiveness of anesthetic solutions for pain control in lower third molar extraction surgeries: a systematic review of randomized clinical trials with network meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

To assess the effectiveness of different anesthetic solutions for pain control immediately after the extraction of lower third molars.

METHODS

Nine databases were used to identify randomized clinical trials, without restriction of language or year of publication. The "JBI Critical Appraisal Tools for Systematic Reviews" was used to assess the risk of bias in the studies. The network meta-analysis was performed to compare the effectiveness of different anesthetics to control the pain immediately after the surgery of lower third molars, using the standardized mean difference (SMD) as the effect estimate. The GRADE approach was used to assess the certainty of evidence.

RESULTS

The search presented 13,739 initial results, from which 45 met the eligibility criteria and presented low to moderate risk of bias. Thirteen studies were included in the meta-analysis. The 2% lidocaine + clonidine presented the lowest pain scores (SMD = - 1.44; - 2.72 to - 0.16) compared to 4% articaine + adrenaline, followed by 0.5% bupivacaine + adrenaline (SMD = - 1.36; - 2.13 to - 0.59). The certainty of evidence varied between very low to moderate.

CONCLUSION

2% lidocaine + clonidine and 0.5% bupivacaine + adrenaline were the anesthetics with the highest probability for pain control immediately after the surgical procedure of removing impacted lower third molars.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE

The use of an adequate anesthetic with effective pain control can contribute to a more comfortable postoperative period.

An in vivo study comparing efficacy of 0.25% and 0.5% bupivacaine in infraorbital nerve block for postoperative analgesia

Background

Pain is an unpleasant sensation ranging from mild localized discomfort to agony and is one of the most commonly experienced symptoms in oral surgery. Usually, local anesthetic agents and analgesics are used for pain control in oral surgical procedures. Local anesthetic agents including lignocaine and bupivacaine are routinely used in varying concentrations. The present study was designed to evaluate and compare the efficacy of 0.25% and 0.5% bupivacaine for postoperative analgesia in infraorbital nerve block.

Methods

Forty-one patients undergoing bilateral maxillary orthodontic extraction received 0.5% bupivacaine (n = 41) on one side and 0.25% bupivacaine (n = 41) on the other side at an interval of 7 d. The parameters evaluated for both the bupivacaine concentrations were onset of action, pain during procedure (visual analog scale score [VAS]), and duration of action. The results were noted, tabulated, and analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed rank test.

Results

The onset of action of 0.5% bupivacaine was quicker than that of 0.25% bupivacaine, but the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.306). No significant difference was found between the solutions for VAS scores (P = 0.221) scores and duration of action (P = 0.662).

Conclusion

There was no significant difference between 0.25% bupivacaine and 0.5% bupivacaine in terms of onset of action, pain during procedure, and duration of action. The use of 0.25% bupivacaine is recommended.