Articaine is a novel amide local anaesthetic with a shorter duration of action than prilocaine. Sub-Tenons anaesthesia arguably provides a safer method of anesthetic delivery for cataract surgery. In our study we compared 2% articaine with mixture of 2% /ignocaine and 0.5% bupivacaine through sub-Tenon's block for cataract surgery. 60 ASA (American Society of Anesthesiologists) 1-111 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 / bupivataute mixture (mean time to readiness for surgery was 3.3 + 2.4 (SD) min in articaine group vs. 5.1 + 3.2 (SD) mi,t in lidocaine/bupivacaine group (p=0.0077). Ocular movement scores were significantly lower from 2 min. after injection until the end of surgery p = 0.021 (p s 0.05) We conclude that articaine 2% is 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% bu- pivacaine. |
