Usage of Epidural Magnesium Sulphate to Reduce Postoperative Analgesics Requirements in Orthopedic Surgery

Abstract

pain is one of the most common problems challenging the anesthetist in the postoperative period, it has become common practice to use poly-pharmacological approach for the treatment of postoperative pain, because no drug has yet been identified that specifically inhibits nociception without associated side effects. Regional anesthesia is a safe, inexpensive technique, with the advantage of prolonged postoperative pain relief. Magnesium has antinociceptive effects that are primarily based on the regulation of calcium influx into the cell which is natural physiological calcium antagonist and antagonist of N-methyl- D- aspartate (NMDA) receptor. These effects prompted the use of magnesium as adjuvant for postoperative analgesia. Our study is a randomized double blind clinical trial that studied the effect of intra-operative co-administration of epidural magnesium sulfate on postoperative pain and on postoperative narcotic requirements. The study was done on 60 patients ASA I and II, who were randomly divided between two groups: A