The Efficacy of Tramadol 50 and 100mg in Combination with 2% Lidocaine in Epidural Anesthesia for Lower Limb Orthopedic Surgery

Tramadol is an analgesic with combined opioid agonist and monoamine reuptake blocker properties, which may be useful as a perioperative analegesic and antinociceptive adjuvant. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Tramadol 50 and 100 mg in combination with 2% Lidocaine in epidural anaesthesia for lower limb orthopedic surgery. Patients and In this randomized, double-blind study, 50 patients undergoing lower extremity orthopedic surgery were enrolled. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either epidural 50 mg Tramadol + 2% Lidocaine(n=25) or 100 mg Tramadol + 2% Lidocaine(n=25). Level and duration of block, change of haemodynamic status and side-effects in each group were compared. There were no differences between the groups in regard to level and duration of analgesia, demographic charecteristics and side effects(P>0.05). Although, systolic blood pressure was decreased significantly in both groups(P<0.05), it was not statistically significant. We suggest that a combination of Tramadol with 2% lidocaine can provide effective and safe preoperative analgesia. Increasing the dose of Tramadol to l00mg, as compared to 50mg dose, does not significantly affect the efficacy and/or side effeds.