• Sule Akin, Anis Aribogan, Tahsin Turunc, and Atilla Aridogan.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, University of Baskent, Adana, Turkey.
• Urol. Int. 2005 Jan 1;75(4):345-9.

Background/AimsWe evaluated the effectiveness and safety of lumbar plexus blockade with ropivacaine for postoperative pain relief in elderly patients undergoing flank incision for urological surgery.Methods60 urological patients (>65 years old) were chosen randomly for paravertebral lumbar blockade. Postoperatively ropivacaine was used in group I (n = 30) and bupivacaine was administered in group II (n = 30) for lumbar plexus blockade. Heart rates, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, peripheral oxygen saturations, analgesia levels with visual analogue scales (VAS) were measured postoperatively at 5 and 30 min and 1, 3, 6, 8,and 12 h. Patient satisfaction scores and complications were recorded.ResultsThe hemodynamic parameters of the groups were in the normal ranges (p > 0.05). VAS were significantly decreased at 60 min in both groups (p < 0.05) and no important increase was observed during the first 8 h (p > 0.05). After the 8-hour measurement, analgesic was given to 7 patients in group I and 6 patients in group II (p < 0.05). There were no complications (p > 0.05). Patient satisfaction scores were found to be higher for all patients (p > 0.05).ConclusionIn elderly patients, lumbar plexus blockade with ropivacaine can be a simple, safe and effective analgesic technique especially in the early postoperative period after urologic surgeries with flank incision.

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