Nalbuphine as an adjuvant to 0.5% bupivacaine for ultrasound-guided supraclavicular brachial plexus blockade

Abstract

Background: Brachial plexus block is a reliable, regional anesthetic technique for upper arm surgeries. Opioid agonist-antagonists are also used as adjuvant to enhance the analgesia of bupivacaine. The present study was aimed to assess the analgesic efficacy and safety of nalbuphine as an adjuvant to 0.5% bupivacaine for brachial plexus block. Patients and Methods: Sixty adult patients of American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I and II of both genders were randomized into two groups of thirty patients each to receive either 20 mL of 0.5% bupivacaine with 1 mL of normal saline (Group 1) or 20 mL of 0.5% bupivacaine with 1 mL of nalbuphine 10 mg (Group 2) for brachial plexus block under ultrasound guidance. Patients were observed for onset and duration of sensory and motor block with duration of pain relief as primary end points while occurrence of any adverse effect due to technique or nalbuphine was noted as secondary outcome. Results: The ultrasound guided the visualization of the nerves, needle, and spread of local anesthetic at brachial plexus block site. Nalbuphine did not affect the onset time of block but enhanced the duration of sensory and motor block. The duration of postoperative analgesia was 481.53 ± 42.45 min in Group 2 and 341.31 ± 21.42 min in Group 1, with statistically highly significant difference (P < 0.001). There were no hemodynamic variations and no complication of technique or adverse effects due to nalbuphine occurred. Conclusion: Nalbuphine 10 mg has significantly extended the duration of analgesia of brachial plexus block with no adverse effects.

Keywords

• Brachial plexus block
• bupivacaine
• nalbuphine
• supraclavicular approach
• ultrasound guidance