Dexmedetomidine and Fentanyl as Adjuvants to Thoracic Epidural

"A thoracic epidural catheter will be inserted at the T6- T7 intervertebral space, with the patient in the sitting position with standard aseptic precautions using an 18-G Touhy needle via a midline or paramedian approach with a loss of resistance method. A test dose of 3 ml of 2% lignocaine with adrenaline 5 µ/ml will be administered.~For thoracic surgery the sensory dermatome blockade needs to cover the incision and intercostal drains and may extend from T4 to T8.~The epidural drug will be administered according to the group allocation over a period of 10 minutes as follows:~Group A:~Patients will receive 50 μg dexmedetomidine with 10 ml of 0.125% bupivacaine followed by a continuous infusion of (10 ml bupivacaine + 25 μg dexmedetomidine + 39 ml saline with rate of 5 ml per hour)."

"A thoracic epidural catheter will be inserted at the T6- T7 intervertebral space, with the patient in the sitting position with standard aseptic precautions using an 18-G Touhy needle via a midline or paramedian approach with a loss of resistance method. A test dose of 3 ml of 2% lignocaine with adrenaline 5 µ/ml will be administered.~For thoracic surgery the sensory dermatome blockade needs to cover the incision and intercostal drains and may extend from T4 to T8.~The epidural drug will be administered according to the group allocation over a period of 10 minutes as follows:~Group B:~Patients will receive 50 μg fentanyl in addition to 10 ml 0.125% bupivacaine followed by a continuous infusion (10 ml bupivacaine + 100 μg fentanyl + 38 ml saline with rate of 5 ml per hour)."