The local addition of tenoxicam reduces the incidence of low back pain after lumbar epidural anesthesia

BACKGROUND: Postepidural backache is a common postoperative complaint after lumbar epidural anesthesia. Useful interventions to decrease the incidence of postepidural backache would be helpful. METHODS: We performed a prospective, randomized, double-blind study to compare the effect of local addition of tenoxicam on the incidence of postepidural backache after nonobstetric surgery. One thousand unpremedicated ASA physical status I or II patients scheduled for hemorrhoidectomy were assigned randomly to tenoxicam or control groups. Patients in the control group received 25 ml lidocaine, 2%, with epinephrine 1:200,000 epidurally and 4 ml lidocaine, 1%, for local skin infiltration. Patients in the tenoxicam group received 25 ml lidocaine, 2%, with epinephrine 1:200,000 epidurally and 4 ml lidocaine, 1%, with tenoxicam (2 mg) 1:2,000 for local skin infiltration. Patients were interviewed at 24, 48, and 72 h postoperatively using a standard visual analog scale for evaluation of postepidural backache. A patient was considered to have postepidural backache when the postoperative visual analog scale score was higher than the preoperative score. RESULTS: The incidence of postepidural backache in patients in the control group for the 3 days were 22.8%, 17.4%, and 9.2%, all of which were significantly more frequent than observed in the patients in the tenoxicam group (6.8%, 4.0%, and 1.2%, P < 0.01). There was a significant association between backache and multiple attempts at epidural needle insertion. CONCLUSION: In summary, the local addition of tenoxicam reduced the incidence and severity of postepidural backache.