Postoperative Pain and SIRS After Preoperative Analgesia With Clonidine or Levobupivacaine

One hour prior to skin incision, on epidural catheter, patients received 5 µg/kg of clonidine \[Catapres®, Boehringer Ingelheim, Germany\], 7 mL of 0.25% levobupivacaine \[Chirocaine®, Abbott S.p.A., Italy\] or 7 mL of saline.The study was designed to compare clonidine and levobupivacaine, and than both with the control group, in order to asses their analgesic and immunomodulation efficacy.