Skip Navigation



BJA Advance Access published online on February 26, 2007
British Journal of Anaesthesia, doi:10.1093/bja/aem029
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
98/4/519    most recent
aem029v1
Right arrow E-Letters: Submit a response to the article
Right arrow E-letters: View responses
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bilir, A.
Right arrow Articles by Ozcelik, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bilir, A.
Right arrow Articles by Ozcelik, A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia 2007. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Epidural magnesium reduces postoperative analgesic requirement

A. Bilir1,*, S. Gulec1, A. Erkan1 and A. Ozcelik2

1 Department of Anaesthesiology and Reanimation
2 Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Osmangazi University Medical Faculty, 26100 Eskisehir, Turkey

* Corresponding author: Department of Anaesthesiology and Reanimation, Osmangazi University Medical Faculty, 26100 Eskisehir, Turkey. E-mail: aytbilir{at}yahoo.com

Background: Magnesium has antinociceptive effects in animal and human models of pain. Our hypothesis was that the addition of magnesium to postoperative epidural infusion of fentanyl may decrease the need for fentanyl.

Methods: Fifty patients undergoing hip surgery were enrolled to receive either fentanyl (Group F) or fentanyl plus magnesium sulphate (Group FM) for 24 h for epidural analgesia. All patients were equipped with a patient-controlled epidural analgesia device and the initial settings of a demand bolus dose of fentanyl 25 µg. In Group FM, patients received 50 mg magnesium sulphate epidurally as an initial bolus dose followed by a continuous infusion of 100 mg day–1. Ventilatory frequency, heart rate, blood pressure, pain assessment using a visual analogue scale (VAS), sedation scores and fentanyl consumption were recorded in the postoperative period.

Results: There was no significant difference between groups in the time to first analgesic requirement. Compared with Group F, patients in Group FM received smaller doses of epidural fentanyl (P<0.05). The cumulative fentanyl consumption in 24 h was 437 (SD110) µg in Group F and 328 (121) µg in Group FM (P<0.05). Patients in Group F showed a higher VAS score in the first hour of the postoperative period (P<0.05). The groups were similar with respect to haemodynamic and respiratory variables, sedation, pruritis, and nausea.

Conclusion: Co-administration of magnesium for postoperative epidural analgesia results in a reduction in fentanyl consumption without any side-effects.

Keywords: analgesic techniques, extradural; pain, postoperative; pharmacology, fentanyl; pharmacology, magnesium sulphate


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Br J AnaesthHome page
S. Farouk
Pre-incisional epidural magnesium provides pre-emptive and preventive analgesia in patients undergoing abdominal hysterectomy
Br. J. Anaesth., November 1, 2008; 101(5): 694 - 699.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

E-letters:

Read all E-letters

Epidural Magnesium
Krishnan Melarkode
British Journal of Anaesthesia, 22 Apr 2007 [Full text]

Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.