Veterinary research communications
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Medetomidine with ketamine and bupivacaine for epidural analgesia in buffaloes.
The efficacy of ketamine and bupivacaine in enhancing the epidural analgesia induced by medetomidine was evaluated in 10 buffalo calves utilized repeatedly after a gap of 10 days so that each drug combination was tested in 4 randomly selected animals. In group A, medetomidine (15 microg/kg), in group B ketamine (2.0 mg/kg), in group C bupivacaine (0.125 mg/kg), in group D medetomidine and ketamine (15 microg/kg and 2.0 mg/kg), and in group E medetomidine and bupivacaine (15 microg/kg and 0.125 mg/kg) was administered epidurally. Onset of analgesia was significantly earlier in animals of groups B and D compared to the animals of groups A, C and E. ⋯ However, significant depression of cardiovascular parameters was recorded. Administration of ketamine along with medetomidine resulted in significantly early onset and slightly longer duration of analgesia with lesser cardiopulmonary side-effects compared to medetomidine alone or medetomidine with bupivacaine. Addition of ketamine to medetomidine thus seems to be useful for producing epidural analgesia; however, addition of bupivacaine failed to provide any advantage over medetomidine alone.