ABSTRACT : Axillary brachial plexus block is the safest, commonly employed regional technique for forearm, wrist and hand surgeries. Levobupivacaine, recently introduced local anaesthetic in India, the pure levoenantiomer of Bupivacaine has gained interest for its prolonged duration of analgesia with reduced cardiovascular and CNS toxicity, compared with previously used drugs like lidocaine and bupivacaine. This study is done to study the effect of Levobupivacaine in Axillary brachial plexus block.

METHODS : After institutional ethical clearance and written informed consent, 60 ASAI/II patients aged 18-60years, posted for elective upper limb surgeries in K.R.Hospital, MMC&RI, Mysore were randomly assigned to 2 groups of n=30 each to receive 30ml of 1.5%Lidocaine with adrenaline1in200000(Group LA) or 30ml of 0.333% Levobupivacaine(Group LB). Axillary BPB-perivascular approach performed using nerve stimulator. Onset, duration and quality of sensory and motor block, duration of analgesia and adverse effects if any were evaluated. Results were analyzed for statistical significance(p value<0.05) using student t test and ANOVA.

RESULTS : Statistically significant increased duration of sensory and motor blockade, prolonged duration of analgesia were obtained in Group Levobupivacaine, with no hemodynamic variations and adverse effects in both groups.

CONCLUSIONS :Levobupivacaine significantly improves the quality of anaesthesia without producing any adverse effects, thus providing greater margin of clinical safety.