Lignocaine versus bupivacaine for flank anaesthesia using multiport catheters via a caudal epidural approach in cattle

To determine the anaesthetic and systemic effects of dorsolumbar epidural anaesthesia using non-stylet multiport catheters via the caudal approach to administer hypertonic 5% lignocaine (HL) or hypertonic 0.5% bupivacaine (HB) to the flank in standing cattle. Six healthy adult cattle weighing 310-455 kg received 0.2 mg/kg HL or 0.025 mg/kg of HB; control animals received 0.9% saline solution.

All drugs were injected into the dorsolumbar epidural space via a caudal approach through a non-stylet multiport catheter. Each animal received each treatment at random. Evaluations of anaesthesia, ataxia, heart rate, arterial pressures, respiratory rate and rectal temperature were obtained at 0 (basal), 5, 10, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90 min after epidural injection and then at 30-min intervals until loss of anaesthesia.

All animals received a standard noxious stimulus and a 4-point scale was used to score the response. A second scale was used to score ataxia. The duration of anaesthesia in the upper and lower flanks in cattle was 68 +/- 12 and 110 +/- 15 min (mean +/- SD) after dorsolumbar epidural HL or HB, respectively.

Both hypertonic local anaesthetics produced a mild ataxia. The systemic changes were within acceptable limits in these clinically healthy cattle. In standing cattle the dorsolumbar epidural injection of hypertonic lignocaine provided faster onset of anaesthesia and fewer cardiovascular effects, but had a shorter duration of anaesthesia than hypertonic bupivacaine.