Post-operative Pain Control: A Comparison between Bupivacaine and Tramadol Local Wound Infiltration in Children Undergoing Herniotomy and Orchidopexy.

INTRODUCTION: Post-operative pain control improves patient's satisfaction and affects the period of admission. Local wound infiltration following hernia surgery using xylocaine or bupivacaine has been a common practice. The use of tramadol for such infiltration is relatively new and has not been studied in our environment. This study compared the efficacy of post-operative pain control between Bupivacaine and Tramadol wound infiltration in children who underwent herniotomy and orchidopexy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a prospective randomised study involving 104 patients. A simple random method was used to allocate the study group into two equal groups (A, n = 52 and B, n = 52) using sealed envelopes with contents labelled A or B. Pre- and post-operative respiratory rate, heart rate, and C-reactive protein (CRP) were all recorded. Time to first and subsequent analgesia was determined using face, legs, activity, cry, consolability (FLACC) pain score.

RESULTS: Fifteen patients in Group A and 18 patients in Group B received each two doses of supplemental analgesia within the first 24 h, (P = 0.527). Time to first analgesia was significantly different between the two groups, (6.93 ± 0.80 h and 6.11 ± 1.08 h, P = 0.020). The mean FLACC pain score at the time of first analgesia in hours was 4.93 ± 0.59 and 4.72 ± 0.67 for Group A and B, respectively, P = 0.350. The changes in CRP were not different in the two groups, (P = 0.665). Four patients in Group A, but none in Group B had an episode each of post-operative vomiting.

CONCLUSION: Tramadol showed comparable efficacy with bupivacaine in post-operative pain control by wound infiltration in children who had unilateral herniotomy or orchidopexy. Tramadol, however, achieves a longer duration of action before rescue analgesic is required. Caution is necessary to avoid post-operative vomiting.