• Kunitaro Watanabe, Joho Tokumine, Alan Kawarai Lefor, Kumi Moriyama, Hideaki Sakamoto, Tetsuo Inoue, and Tomoko Yorozu.
• aDepartment of Anesthesiology, Kyorin University School of Medicine, Shinkawa, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan bDepartment of Surgery, Jichi Medical University, Yakushiji, Shimotsuke, Tochigi, Japan cDepartment of Anesthesia, Hino Munichipal Hospital, Tamadaira, Hino, Tokyo, Japan.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2017 Mar 1; 96 (12): e6457.

BackgroundOn a pharmacologic basis, levobupivacaine is expected to last longer than ropivacaine. However, most reports of these anesthetics for brachial plexus block do not suggest a difference in analgesic effect. The aim of this study is to compare the postoperative analgesic effects of levobupivacaine and ropivacaine when used for treating ultrasound-guided brachial plexus block.MethodsA total of 62 patients undergoing orthopedic surgery procedures were prospectively enrolled and randomized to receive levobupivacaine (group L, N = 31) or ropivacaine (group R, N = 31). The duration of analgesia, offset time of motor block, need for rescue analgesics, and sleep disturbance on the night of surgery were recorded. Pain score was recorded on the day of surgery, and on postoperative days 1 and 2.ResultsThere was no difference in the time interval until the first request for pain medication comparing the two groups (group L: 15.6 [11.4, 16.8] hours; group R: 12.5 [9.4, 16.0] hours, P = 0.32). There was no difference in the duration of motor block (group L: 12.2 [7.6, 14.4] hours; group R: 9.4 [7.9, 13.2] hours, P = 0.44), pain score (P = 0.92), need for rescue analgesics (group L: 55%; group R: 65%, P = 0.6), or rate of sleep disturbance (group L: 61%, group R: 58%, P = 1.0) on comparing the two groups.ConclusionsThere was no difference in postoperative analgesia comparing levobupivacaine and ropivacaine when used for brachial plexus block.

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