Publications of Faculty of Medicine:EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF INTRAVENOUS NEFOPAM HYDROCHLORIDE IN THE PREVENTION OF POST ANESTHETIC SHIVERING IN COMPARISON WITH CLONIDINE, MEPERIDINE AND PLACEBO: Abstract

Postanesthetic shivering (ps} affects up to 70% of patients after gener al anesthesia and may be very distressing and may be prevented by us ing specific drugs. One hundred adult patients of both sexes ofASAphysical status I or U undergoing elective abdominal and orthopedic surgery of moderate duration under general anesthesia were included in the study . They were randomly divided into four equal groups (25 patients each) according to drug used Patients in group A received 5ml saline (placebo), those in group B received (0.2mg/ kg) nefopam, while those in group C re ceived (1.5 ug/kg) clonldine and patients in group D received meperidine (OAmg/kg). The drug was diluted with normal saline to 5ml and given in travenously at the end of surgery prior to extubation. It was found that nefopam, clonldine and meperidine significantly (p<0.01) reduced the incidence of shivering in comparison with the place bo ((4% , 12%, 16%, 64%) respectively and also reduced the severity of shivering in comparison with the placebo (P < 0.01). There were no signifi cant differences among nefopam, clonldine and meperidine groups, no patient in those groups experienced grade 3 or 4 on shivering scale. There were no statistically significant differences in vital signs, O2 saturation and sedation score among the four studied groups. No patient in nefopam. group heeds post operative analgesia and no adverse reactions as compard with clonidine, meperidine, and placebo.