Peribulbar block for retinal surgery comparison among dexmedetomidine, fentanyl, and local anesthesia

Introduction Among all the regional blocks, the peribulbar block is one of the most popular for most ophthalmic procedures as it has few complications. Aim To study the effects of mixing local anesthetic with either dexmedetomidine or fentanyl in the peribulbar block for vitreoretinal surgery. Patients and methods The study included 40 adult patients (ASA II–IV) who had a peribulbar block for elective retinal surgery at Sohag University Hospital. All patients received the following combination: lidocaine 2%, bupivacaine 0.5%, hyaluronidase 15 IU/Ml, in addition to either 20 μg of fentanyl (group F) or 20 μg of dexmedetomidine (group D). The duration of postoperative analgesia, the onset, and duration of sensory and motor blocks, along with other complications, were recorded. Results The onset time of motor and sensory blocks was significantly longer in group F. For the duration of sensory and motor blocks, group D had a significantly greater duration than group F (P=0.05). Group D took substantially longer to request analgesia than group F (P=0.0002). Total paracetamol consumption was substantially higher in group F than in group D (P=0.001). The overall number of patients who required nalbuphine was substantially higher in group F (P=0.003) than in group D. At 2, 4, and 6 h postoperatively, the visual analog scale was statistically significantly greater in group F than in group D. Conclusion Dexmedetomidine-local anesthetic mixture in the peribulbar block for retinal surgery was superior to fentanyl-local anesthetic mixture regarding onset and duration of motor, sensory block, postoperative analgesia, and analgesic requirement.