The aim of the study was to compare the
analgesic efficacy of
tramadol and
lidocaine for
local anesthesia during
umbilical hernia repair in swine. The study was performed on 66 large white crossbred swine. The swine received a mixture of
tiletamine/zolazepam at 5 mg/kg and
romifidine at 80 µg/kg, administered intramuscularly. Then, they were divided into three groups (n = 22) that received different treatments with
lidocaine at 4 mg/kg and
tramadol at 4 mg/kg. The LL group received
lidocaine both by infiltration of the surgical planes and intraperitoneally. The LT group received
lidocaine by infiltration of the surgical planes and
tramadol intraperitoneally. The TT group received
tramadol both by infiltration of the surgical planes and intraperitoneally. In all groups, the infiltration of the surgical planes into the umbilical region involved both the skin and muscle planes. Heart rate, noninvasive arterial blood pressure, and respiratory frequency were recorded during surgery. The response to the surgical stimulus was evaluated using a cumulative
pain scale (the cut-off point for rescue
analgesia was set to 10).
Postoperative pain was assessed using the UNESP-Botucatu pig composite
acute pain scale (the cut-off point was set to 4). The trend of physiological variables was adequate for patients under
anesthesia. No subject required intraoperative and postoperative rescue
analgesia.
Tramadol could therefore be used for
pain management in livestock.