IntrOductIOnSpinal anaesthesia is the gold standard for lower abdominal surgeries. It has got the advantage of being, cost-effective, easy administration technique, rapid onset of action, with relatively less adverse effects and most importantly patient remaining aroused throughout the procedure [1]. But at times short duration and uncomfortable postoperative period offset the above advantages. Therefore, in order to extend the intraoperative analgesia into postoperative period, following spinal anaesthesia, various spinal adjuvants like morphine, buprenorphine and fentanyl, clonidine, ketamine are being used in anaesthetic practice. Such adjuvants have been helpful in induction of early ambulation along with prolongation of analgesia but at the cost of their associated adverse effects. Therefore search for an effective adjuvant is still going on.Alpha-2 (α 2 ) adrenergic receptor agonists have been tried by many clinicians due to their sedative, anxiolytic, hypnotic, analgesic, perioperative sympatholytic and stable haemodynamic properties [2]. The initiation for the use of α 2 agonists in anaesthesia resulted from observations made in patients who were receiving clonidine therapy. Dexmedetomidine, a Dextro (s) isomer of medetomidine was approved for short term sedation in 1999. It possesses all the above properties but lacks respiratory depressant action; making it a relatively safe agent [3]. Currently its adjuvant action in spinal anaesthesia is being explored. Various adjuvants like morphine, buprenorphine and fentanyl, clonidine, ketamine are being used in anaesthetic practice since long for improvement of peri-operative analgesia following spinal anaesthesia. Such adjuvants have been helpful in induction of early ambulation but at the cost of their associated adverse effects. Therefore search for an effective adjuvant is still going on. Currently Dexmedetomidine, a highly selective α 2 -adrenoreceptor agonist is being studied for its adjuvant action in spinal anaesthesia.
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