The Effect of Adding Magnesium Sulphate to Epidural Anesthesia for Lower Urinary Tract Surgeries

Background: Epidural anesthesia is a safe and inexpensive technique with the advantage of providing surgical anesthesia and prolonged postoperative pain relief. It is also an effective treatment of operative pain as it blunts autonomic, somatic and endocrine responses. This study showed the effect of adding magnesium sulphate to epidural bupivacaine in anesthesia for lower urinary tract surgeries, with respect to onset of action, potency, duration of the block and the total dose of bupivacaine consumption during surgery as well hemodynamic changes. Methods: 40 patients, ASA I/II were enrolled into the study. All patients had epidural anesthesia and randomly allocated into one of two groups. Group C: (20 patients) the patient received 10ml of bupivacaine 0.5%, Group M: (20 patients): The patient received 1 0ml of bupivacaine 0.5% plus 1.0ml of magnesium sulphate 10% (100mg), in both groups, assessment was done after 10 minutes aiming to achieve T10 sensory level and G3 motor block. Otherwise incremental doses of 5ml bupivacaine 0.5% were given without additives. Results: This study demonstrated that a more rapid onset of action of the epidural block was achieved in the magnesium group. Also, total dose consumption of the local anesthetic was lower than that of the control group. Hemodynamic variables were stable and there were no significant differences beween both groups. Conclusion: Magnesium sulphate is effective as useful adjuvants to local anesthetic for epidural anesthesia. It is associated with a shorter onset of action of the epidural block. The studied drug effectively decreased the total dose requirements of local anesthetic drug. No significant side effects were observed throughout the study period.