title: Lumbar plexus blockade with ropivacaine for postoperative pain management in elderly patients undergoing urologic surgeries.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We evaluated the effectiveness and safety of lumbar plexus blockade with ropivacaine for postoperative pain relief in elderly patients undergoing flank incision for urological surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  60 urological patients (>65 years old) were chosen randomly for paravertebral lumbar blockade. Postoperatively ropivacaine was used in group I (n = 30) and bupivacaine was administered in group II (n = 30) for lumbar plexus blockade. Heart rates, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, peripheral oxygen saturations, analgesia levels with visual analogue scales (VAS) were measured postoperatively at 5 and 30 min and 1, 3, 6, 8,and 12 h. Patient satisfaction scores and complications were recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The hemodynamic parameters of the groups were in the normal ranges (p > 0.05). VAS were significantly decreased at 60 min in both groups (p < 0.05) and no important increase was observed during the first 8 h (p > 0.05). After the 8-hour measurement, analgesic was given to 7 patients in group I and 6 patients in group II (p < 0.05). There were no complications (p > 0.05). Patient satisfaction scores were found to be higher for all patients (p > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In elderly patients, lumbar plexus blockade with ropivacaine can be a simple, safe and effective analgesic technique especially in the early postoperative period after urologic surgeries with flank incision.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, University of Baskent, Adana, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sule
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Akin
authors.forename: Anis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aribogan
authors.forename: Tahsin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Turunc
authors.forename: Atilla
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aridogan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000577:Amides / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000779:Anesthetics, Local / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007267:Injections; D008160:Lumbosacral Plexus; D008297:Male; D009407:Nerve Block / Q000379:methods*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D000077212:Ropivacaine; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014570:Urologic Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D013520:Urologic Surgical Procedures
chemical_list: D000577:Amides; D000779:Anesthetics, Local; D000077212:Ropivacaine