Tumescent anesthesia or epidural anesthesia combined with intercostal block in bitches submitted to mastectomy

Abstract The present study aimed to evaluate the use of tumescent local anesthesia or epidural anesthesia associated with an intercostal nerve block in bitches submitted to mastectomy. Fourteen bitches from the clinical routine of the Veterinary Hospital of the Federal University of Pelotas were premedicated with acepromazine (0.03 mg/kg) and morphine (0.3 mg/kg) intramuscularly, then induced with propofol (2 to 6 mg/kg/IV) and maintained with 1,4V% isoflurane (calibrated vaporizer). The patients were randomly allocated into: GALT Group (n=7), which received tumescent local anesthesia (0.16%) at the dose of 15 mL/kg, and the GEBI Group (n=7) which received epidural anesthesia with lidocaine (5 mg/kg) and morphine (0.1 mg/kg) associated with an intercostal nerve block from the 6th to 12th intercostal space with lidocaine (2 mg/kg). An increase higher than 10% in heart rate, respiratory rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure were considered as possible signs of nociception, to which fentanyl was administered intravenously as rescue analgesia. Postoperative analgesia was evaluated by means of the modified Glasgow scale at 30, 60, 120, 240 and 360 minutes. There were no differences in physiological parameters (0>0.05) in the transoperative period intra-group and inter-group the groups. The GEBI Group required more frequent transoperative rescue analgesia (9) in comparison to the GALT Group (5), but with no statistical difference. During the postoperative period, there was no need for rescue analgesia in either group. Results suggest that epidural anesthesia associated with intercostal nerve block can be used as an alternative technique in patients with restrictions against the use of local tumescent anesthesia.