| Objective Caudal epidural blockade is the most common technique of pediatric regional anesthesia. It is usually combined with general anesthesia to provide intra- and postoperative analgesia for the surgery operations below the level of umbilicus. The classical single shot technique has a relative short duration of action so that it couldnot provide adequate intra- and/or postoperative analgesia. There has been some development in the area of the common regional technique to provide better perioperative analgesia in infants and children, such as adding narcotic into local anesthetics, continuous infusion through the caudal indwelling catheter. The aim of our study is to examine the analgesic efficacy and safety of short infusion of caudal levobupivacaine, fentanyl, or a mixture of both drugs in the pediatric patients. Methods After the induction of general anesthesia with midazolam and ketamine and the caudal loading injection of 0.25% levobupivacaine, 90 children with hypospadius, who were arranged for ureter repair under caudal anesthesia combined with general anesthesia, were allocated randomly into three groups (n = 30) to receive a caudal continuous infusion of either 0.125% levobupivacaine 1 ml/kg, with or without fentanyl 1 μg/ml, or fentanyl 1 μg/ml in normal saline. All the solutions contained no epinephrine and the infusion speed was 0.4ml ? kg-1 ? h-1. Anesthesia was maintained with intravenous continuous infusion of propofol, as well as ketamine when necessary. The following data was monitored and recorded: the sensory block level 2h after the caudal injection, the total consumption of propofol and ketamine during the operation, postoperative pain scores, perioperative circulorespiratory data, recovery time and sensory block time, and any possible side reaction related with caudal anesthesia or the studied agents. Results The demographic data were...
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