Caudal bupivacaine and morphine provides effective postoperative analgesia but does not prevent hemodynamic response to pneumoperitoneum for major laparoscopic surgeries in children.

The use of a caudal block in laparoscopic surgery in children is limited to minor procedures like inguinal hernia repair, and intravenous opioids remain the analgesic modality of choice in major laparoscopic surgery. However, a caudal block is frequently performed at our institute even for laparoscopic surgery. Therefore, we planned to evaluate the analgesic efficacy of caudal bupivacaine and morphine in major laparoscopic surgery as compared to intravenous opioids. Our hypothesis was that a single-shot caudal block would increase the duration of analgesia and minimize the hemodynamic response to pneumoperitoneum. After institutional ethics committee clearance, data were collected for 65 ASA I-II children aged 6 months to 12 years who underwent laparoscopic surgery in the last 14 months. Demographic, surgical, and perioperative anesthetic and analgesic data were noted and analyzed. Twenty-four children received a caudal block with 0.25 % bupivacaine (1-1.25 ml/kg) with morphine (30-50 mcg/kg). In the caudal group, the time to first analgesic request was increased (165 vs. 45 min; p = 0.00) and tachycardia response to port site incision was less observed (33 vs. 63 % children; p = 0.019). Hemodynamic response to pneumoperitoneum was equal in both of the groups. Single-shot caudal injection of local anesthetic with morphine reduces port site skin incision response and increases the duration of postoperative analgesia but fails to prevent hemodynamic response to pneumoperitoneum.