Interpleural meperidine and bupivacaine for pain relief after cholecystectomy

The present study was performed to determine the postoperative analgesic effects of interpleural bupivacaine, meperidine and intramuscular meperidine after cholecystectomy. Sixty patients were divided into three equal groups. The quantity of the applied drugs for each group could be seen below: Group I; meperidine 1 mg/kg was given via interpleural catheter. Group II; bupivacaine 20 ml 0.5% was given via interpleural catheter. Group III; meperidine, 1 mg/kg, was given intramuscularly. Tidal volumes (VT), respiratory rates (f), minute volumes (MV), systolic (SBP) and diastolic arterial blood (DBP) pressures, heart rates (HR) and visual analog scala (VAS) were measured in the patients in pre and postoperative periods at 30th, 90th, 150th minutes and 24th, 48th and 72nd hours following the administration of drugs. It was found that VT and MV had increased by all the methods. However, TV and MV was increased by interpleural bupivacaine administration much more than the others. Respiratory frequency values in group II were found statistically significantly lower than other groups. It was found that interpleural bupivacaine administration was successful for VT and MV to reach to preoperative values after 30 minutes. Statistically significantly lower VAS values were found in group II compared with the other two groups. We conclude that interpleural bupivacaine is more effective than the other methods in postoperative pain relief following upper abdominal operations