Papers of the Week

Fascia iliaca block (FIB) is an established procedure for postoperative pain relief in femur fracture surgeries. Dexmedetomidine was found to be a useful additive to local anesthetics (LA) for peripheral nerve blocks resulting in a prolonged anesthetic effect. We evaluated the impact of the addition of dexmedetomidine to an equal concentration of levobupivacaine and ropivacaine for FIB.  Methods: The present study is a double-blind, randomized trial conducted on 60 patients in the age group 18-70 years. The patients were divided into two groups: Group LD received 30 ml of an LA solution (29.5 ml 0.25% levobupivacaine and 0.5 ml dexmedetomidine 50 µg), and group RD received 30 ml of another LA solution (29.5 ml 0.25% ropivacaine and 0.5 ml dexmedetomidine 50 µg). The outcomes observed were the duration of analgesia (DOA) and total analgesic requirement (TAR).