A prospective comparative study of oral clonidine and injection Midazolam as premedicants for general anaesthesia

Abstract

Introduction: Premedication is an important step before giving anaesthesia to patient. Midazolam, a benzodiazepine, has short duration of action, causes anxiolysis, muscular relaxation, amnesia in lower doses and sedation, hypnosis in higher ones. Clonidine, an alpha-2 agonist, causes reduction of anaesthetic and analgesic requirements, haemodynamic stability, sedation, antisialogogue effect.Materials and Methods: A comparative study between midazolam and Clonidine as a premedication for general anesthesia was conducted on 50 patients of either cases at Department of Anaesthesiology, Viswabharathi Medical College, Penchikalapadu, Kurnool. All the patients belongs to ASA I or II. The age of patients ranged from 15-65 years. On the day before the operation pre-operative assessment was carried out. Results: Majority of cases in both the groups were in the age group of 16-30 years (56%). Gender wise distribution shows 40% cases were males and 60% were females. The sedation score, apprehension score and excitement score in both the groups before and after induction was statistically significant. There is no significant difference in dose requirement of pentothal for induction between midazolam and clonidine group. The amnesia score shows that midazolam produces more potent and perfect amnesia as compared to clonidine. Amnesia score in both the groups was statistically significant
Conclusion: It was concluded from the present study that midazolam was superior to Clonidine in its sedative and anxiolytic effects, had a potent amnesia and does not attenuate hemodynamic response to laryngoscopy and intubation and does not prolong recovery time.