• Saleh Kanawati, Mohamad Ali Barada, Zoher Naja, Omar Rajab, Loubna Sinno, and Janah El Hasan.
• Anesthesia Department, Makassed General Hospital, Beirut, Lebanon. s.kanawati@hotmail.com.
• J Anesth. 2022 Apr 1; 36 (2): 201-209.

PurposeThe objective of this study was to compare the effect of adding meperidine or sufentanil to hyperbaric bupivacaine in patients undergoing elective cesarean delivery (CD) under spinal anesthesia. The primary outcome was the first analgesic request time, and secondary outcomes included an analgesic requirement in the first 24 h and intraoperative and postoperative side effects.MethodsThis was a randomized, double-blind clinical trial in which patients were allocated into two groups. One group received preservative-free meperidine 12.5 mg (1 mL) in addition to 0.5% 10 mg (2 mL) of hyperbaric bupivacaine for spinal anesthesia. The other group received sufentanil 5 μg (1 mL) added to 0.5% 10 mg (2 mL) of hyperbaric bupivacaine.ResultsA total of 60 parturients were included in the study, 30 patients in each group. Time to first analgesic request was significantly longer in the meperidine group (400.0 ± 142.1 min) compared to (274.0 ± 104.1 min) in the sufentanil group (P < 0.0001). Around 73% of the parturients in the sufentanil group required analgesics at 4 h compared to 13% in the meperidine group (P < 0.0001). There were no significant differences in postoperative pruritus, nausea and vomiting, in addition to shivering. As for surgeon satisfaction, 56.7% reported excellent abdominal muscle relaxation during the surgery in the meperidine group compared to 10% in the sufentanil group (P < 0.0001).ConclusionMeperidine was superior to sufentanil in terms of improved analgesia, intraoperative postoperative pruritus, and shivering, as well as increased surgeon satisfaction in women undergoing spinal anesthesia for elective cesarean delivery.Clinical Trial Number And RegistryClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04446715).© 2021. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Japanese Society of Anesthesiologists.

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