Abstract

Background: Labor epidural analgesia is an effective method of reducing pain during labor. For labour epidural, opioid sparing analgesia is gaining popularity.Opioidsparing drugs like dexmedetomidinehas been as an adjuvant to local anaesthetics with fewer side effects in various techniques and its less explored in labor epidural analgesia. Objective: To compare analgesic effects of dexmedetomidine and fentanyl when added to ropivacaine for labor epidural analgesia. Materials and methods: An observational comparative study was done after obtaining approval from ethicalcommittee(IEC/NMCH/15/02/2022_7), 60 nulliparous parturients were divided into 2 groups to receive either dexmedetomidine 0.5mcg/ ml with 0.2% ropivacaine (10 ml) or fentanyl 2mcg /ml with 0.2%ropivacaine 10ml.Onset and duration of sensory blockade was noted after giving first bolus. Results: The mean onset time of sensory-block in fentanyl group is higher thandexmedetomidine group. The duration of the sensory blockade showed a statisticallysignificant difference between the two study groups (p<0.05).There was significant alteration seen in hemodynamics between the study groups. No side effects were encountered in either group. Conclusion: Dexmedetomidineis superior to fentanyl as an adjuvant to ropivacainefor opioid sparing analgesia in labor epidural by providing longer duration of sensory blockade without any side effects.