title: Ultrasound-guided transversus abdominis plane block: What are the benefits of adding dexmedetomidine to ropivacaine?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ultrasound-guided transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block has recently come up as a modality to take care of postoperative pain. It can somewhat avoid the use of intravenous opioid analgesics and hence to avoid its complications. We have performed a prospective, double-blinded, randomized study to assess the analgesic effect of adding dexmedetomidine to local ropivacaine on TAP block for patients undergoing lower abdominal surgeries.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim is to assess whether addition of dexmedetomidine to ropivacaine may bring some improvements to the analgesic efficacy of TAP blocks in patients undergoing lower abdominal surgeries.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted on forty patients undergoing lower abdominal surgeries under general anesthesia. The patients were divided into two groups: one receiving plain ropivacaine (Group 1) and other receiving ropivacaine with dexmedetomidine (Group 2) during TAP block. The patients in the two groups were compared for age, sex, body mass index, incidence of postoperative nausea, and vomiting and pain as measured on visual analog scale (VAS).
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was significantly lower pain score on VAS at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 18 h in Group 2 than in Group 1.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The addition of dexmedetomidine to ropivacaine during TAP block improves analgesic effect of TAP block and prolongs the duration of analgesia as well.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia, U. P. Rural Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Saifai, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Manjaree
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mishra
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, U. P. Rural Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Saifai, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Shashi Prakash
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Mishra
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, U. P. Rural Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Saifai, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Somendra Pal
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Singh
keywords: Dexmedetomidine; ropivacaine; transversus abdominis plane block; ultrasound