COMPARISON OF ANALGESIC EFFICACY OF SYSTEMIC LIGNOCAINE COMBINED WITH DEXAMETHASONE AND LIGNOCAINE INFUSION

Analgesic Efficacy in Advance Cancer Patients

Abstract

Objective: To determine the analgesic efficacy of lignocaine combined with dexamethasone and lignocaine
infusion in patients with advance cancer disease.
Study Design: Randomized controlled trial.
Place and Duration of Study: Pain centre Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi, from Apr 2016 to Nov 2016.
Material and Methods: Total 122 patients, 61 in each group, fulfilling the inclusion criteria were included in
this study after approval of the ethical committee. The technique used was non probability consecutive
sampling. Two groups were made; group-A received Lignocaine 2mg/kg and group-B Lignocaine 2mg/kg with
dexamethasone 0.15mg/kg in continuous infusion over 30 minutes. Both regimen were administered twice
weekly for a period of 12 weeks as an outdoor procedure. Numerical rating scale used to measure severity of
pain. Baseline and outcome parameters of all patients’ i.e. severity of persistent and breakthrough pain and
percentage relief of pain were recorded and compared at 12 weeks. Mean ± standard deviations were calculated
for quantitative variables, while qualitative variables presented in frequency and percentages. Chi-square test
used for qualitative variables while Independent sample t-test used to compare means. A p-value <0.05 was
considered statistically significant.
Results: When results of group-B compared with group-A, there was a significant reduction in severity of
persistent pain from 5.68 ± 2.08 to 2.83 ± 1.01 (p-value <0.05), breakthrough pain from 5.90 ± 2.07 to 3.06 ± 1.09
(p-value <0.05). The percentage relief of pain was 45.08 ± 15.01 (%) when compared to baseline i.e. 23.35 ± 8.55 (%)
(p-value <0.05).
Conclusion: Lignocaine with dexamethasone has shown to be effective in reducing complex cancer related pain
and disability when compared with Lignocaine alone.