Comparison of Meperidine and Meperidine Combined with 0.08% Bupivacaine for the pain Relief after Cesarean Section

Lee, Byung Ho; Lee, Chul Woo; Kim, Chang Jae; Chung, Mee Young; Son, Woong; Chea, Jun Seuk

Abstract

We performed a study of epidural patient controlled analgesia of meperidine with or without 0.08% bupivacaine for 48 hours after Cesarean section. 51 parturients were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups: 1) epidural 0.2% meperidine group (n: 24) and 2) epidural combined group with 0.2% meperidine and 0.08% bupivacaine (n:27). All parturients used patient controlled analgesia with loading dose, 2 ml/hour continuous infusion, 1 ml bolus infusion and lockout time, 8 minutes. Visual analog scales after loading doses were not significantly different in either groups. The total quantity of meperidine consumption and hourly consumption were significantly lower in the combined group than meperidine group (P < 0.05). The cumulative amount of meperidine consumption were also significantly lower in the combined group than meperidine group at 6, 12, 24 and 48 hours. In combined group the hourly consumption of meperidine from 3 hours to 12 hours after loading dose was significanly lower than those of meperidine group. Above 90% of parturients were satisfied in both groups. Side effects were numbness (2), nausea (l) and headache (1) in combined group and numbness (2), thigh weakness (1), nausea (1), headache (1) and back pain (2) in epidural meperidine group. There were no case needed specific treatment in both groups. We conclude that analgesic effects were similar in both groups, however the amount of meperidine consumption was less for meperidine group than combined group.