Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Levobupivacaine and Ropivacaine are the two recently introduced local anaesthetics alternatives to Bupivacaine in clinical practice. The present study has been conducted to compare the efficacy of intrathecal isobaric levobupivacaine 0.5% and isobaric ropivacaine 0.5% in terms of sensory and motor blockade characteristics, intraoperative haemodynamics stability and side effects if any..
METHODOLOGY : A prospective randomized double blind study was conducted in 60 ASA grade I-II patients in age groups of 18-60 years undergoing lower limb surgeries. Patients were divided in 2 groups of 30 patients each. Group L received 3ml isobaric levobupivacaine 0.5% whereas Group R received 3 ml isobaric ropivacaine intrathecally.Patients were assessed for onset and duration of sensory & motor blockade ,intraoperative haemodynamic parameters and side effects .
RESULTS:- There was no difference in demographic data, onset and peak effect of sensory &motor block in both groups (P>0.05). Duration of sensory & motor block and time to two segment regression were significantly longer in Group L than Group R (p

Key words: Isobaric, Levobupivacaine, Ropivacaine