Ropivacaine has no advantage over bupivacaine in thoracic epidural analgesia for patients with pectus excavatum undergoing the Nuss procedure – a single blind randomized clinical trial comparing efficacy and safety

INTRODUCTION: Pectus excavatum repair (Nuss procedure) is a painful procedure requiring effective postoperative analgesia. AIM: To establish whether thoracic epidural analgesia with ropivacaine is non-inferior to epidural analgesia with bupivacaine following the Nuss procedure in children. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The prospective, randomized, controlled, single blind study included 81 children. Computer-generated random numbers were used to allocate treatment. All children received general anesthesia. Intraoperative and postoperative analgesia was achieved with either 0.5% and 0.1% ropivacaine (group R) or 0.375% and 0.0625% bupivacaine (group B). The Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) and the Prince Henry Hospital Pain Score (PHHPS) were used to assess postoperative pain directly after and 1, 8, 20 and 24 hours after awakening from general anesthesia. NRS scores of more than 2 and a PHHPS score of more than 1 were considered as pain requiring intervention. Hemodynamic stability and side effects were also compared between the groups. RESULTS: The durations of the procedure and extubation times in groups R and B were similar (59 ±7 vs. 56 ±10 minutes and 9 ±5 vs. 10 ±5 minutes, respectively). Pain scores requiring intervention were below 10% and were recorded with similar frequency in both groups, except for one difference in the PHHPS score in favor of group R after 24 hours (12% vs. 40%, p < 0.05). The frequency of side effects and hemodynamic stability were similar in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: 0.1% epidural ropivacaine has no advantage over 0.0625% epidural bupivacaine for pectus excavatum repair in children.