Background: Many anesthetic drug combinations have been used in patients to improve regional anesthesia. This study was planned to compare the analgesic and sedative effects of dexmedetomidine and clonidine as an adjuvant to bupivacaine in patients undergoing lower limb surgeries.

Material and Methods: This prospective study was conducted in 50 patients of ASA grade I and II, aged between 18-65 years. Patients were randomly allocated to Group BC receiving 30ml of 0.5% bupivacaine + 2 mg/kg of clonidine and group BD receiving 30 ml solution of 0.5% bupivacaine + 1.5 mg/kg of dexmedetomidine. Onset and  duration of sensory and motor blocks, duration of analgesia, sedation, and complication if any were recorded.

Results: Group BD resulted in an earlier onset (8.52±2.36 min) of sensory analgesia at T10 as compared to Group BC (9.76±3.44 min). (p<0.05) Time to onset of motor block was significantly shorter in group BD (17.42±5.16 min) as compared to group BC  (19.76±4.06). (p<0.05) Time for rescue analgesia was comparatively shorter in group BC (310.76±23.75 min) as compared to group BD (344.88±28.16). (p<0.05) Mean sedation score 3 was significantly higher in group BD (40%) as compared to group BC (16%). (p<0.0001) The incidence of dry mouth was higher in both the groups but it was statistically non-significant in both the groups (p>0.05).

Conclusion: Dexmedetomidine was found to be better adjuvant than clonidine with bupivacaine because of better analgesia effect, sedative effect and also hemodynamically stable during the surgical procedures under anaesthesia.