The Effectiveness of the Addition of Dexmedetomidine to Analgesia for Ankle Surgery.

Forefoot surgeries involve a relatively short operation usually completed in 1 - 1½ hours, with patients generally being allowed to go home on the same day. Despite this, post-surgery pain is often severe and a delay in the discharge of patients due to difficulty with pain control after the surgery is common. Performing nerve blocks in association with sedation is the preferred way to provide pain relief and offers important benefits for foot surgeries. With nerve blocks, the requirement for oral painkillers and their associated side effects is reduced. Increasing the duration of local anesthetic action is helpful as it increases the time of pain relief, allowing for a smoother transition to oral pain medications, earlier discharge, and faster recovery. Recently, Precedex has been considered for its usefulness in prolonging the pain relief produced by nerve blocks. The identified benefits of this particular use include reducing post-surgical pain medications requirements, reducing the incidence of nausea and vomiting, reducing the incidence of sedation from such medication, and diminishing the incidence of respiratory depression (inadequate breathing). Two small studies have also shown that adding dexmedetomidine to nerve block solution results in prolonging pain relief. The purpose of the study is to examine several doses of dexmedetomidine combined with local anesthetic drugs and determine the best combination for prolonging pain relief, while minimizing potential side effects.