Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Mar 1997
Clinical TrialPlasma concentrations of bupivacaine in neonates after continuous epidural infusion.
This study reports plasma bupivacaine concentrations in 13 neonates who received lumbar epidural anesthesia during major abdominal surgery. A bolus of 1.8 mg/kg of bupivacaine (2.5 mg/mL) was administered after induction of anesthesia, followed by a continuous infusion of 0.2 mg.kg-1.h-1 (1.25 mg/mL). Plasma concentrations of total and free bupivacaine and alpha 1-acid-glycoprotein (AAG) were determined. ⋯ However, a substantial number of patients still had increasing concentrations of total plasma bupivacaine at 48 h. Furthermore, the interindividual variation was considerable. These observations cause concern about the safety of epidural infusions longer than 48 h in the age group studied.