Articaine is a novel amide local anaesthetic with a shorter duration of
action than prilocaine. Sub-Tenon's anaesthesia arguably provides a safer
method of anesthetic delivery for cataract surgery. In our study we
compared 2% articaine with mixture of 2% lignocaine and 0.5% bupivacaine
through sub-Tenon's block for cataract surgery. 60 AM (American
Society of Anesthesiologists) patients were selected for comparison
and allocated in two equal groups in randomized double-blinded study.
We found that sub-Tenon's block using articaine 2% resulted in a more
rapid onset of motor block than lidocaine / bupivacaine mixture (mean
time to readiness for surgery was 3.3 + 2.4 (SD) min. in articaine group
vs. 5.1 + 3.2 (SD) min. in lidocaine/bupivacairte group (p=0.0077). Ocular
movement scores were signylcantly lower from 2 min. after injection until
the end of surgery p = 0.021 (p 50.05)
We conclude that articaine 2% S safe and effective in sub-Tenon's
block for cataract surgery and is a suitable and more convenient single
drug alternative to the traditional mixture of 2% lignocaine and 0.5% bupivacaine. |
