A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF LOCAL INFILTRATION USING LIGNOCAINE ALONE VERSUS LIGNOCAINE COMBINED WITH DEXAMETHASONE ALONG THE SPINAL EPIDURAL NEEDLE PATHWAY FOR PREVENTING BACK PAIN FOLLOWING NEURAXIAL BLOCK IN LOWER LIMB ORTHOPEDIC SURGERIES.

Anaesthetic techniques for orthopaedic surgical procedures include general and regional anaesthesia techniques. Over the past decades, regional anaesthesia has become the anaesthetic technique of choice for many orthopaedic procedures. It entails injecting a local anesthetic solution to disrupt signal transmission in peripheral nerves or spinal nerve roots, which supply sensory and motor functions to the surgical area. Regional anaesthesia can be classified into two categories: Neuraxial anaesthesia which includes spinal, epidural and combined spinal epidural (CSE) techniques, and peripheral nerve blocks which cover both upper and lower extremity blocks. Neuraxial anaesthesia (NA) involves inserting a needle or a catheter between the vertebrae to administer medication into either the epidural space (epidural anaesthesia) or the subarachnoid space (spinal anaesthesia). DL and L these both groups were comparable with regards to mean hemodynamic parameters like pulse rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure and oxygen saturation [p value > 0.05]. incidence of post-neuraxial back pain was 51.4% in cases of group Las compared to 25.7% in group DL [p value = 0.027], which was significantly reduced in Group DL. Post-operatively mean VAS score was significantly less in group DLas compared to Lat 12 hours (2.66 vs 3.2; p value = 0.02).