BACKGROUND Caudal analgesia is a very popular route to provide postoperative analgesia in children because of simple technique, high success rate and smooth recovery. Various additives have been used to increase the duration provided by ropivacaine administered by a single shot caudal injection. METHODS A prospective, randomised double blind controlled study in 40 ASA Grade 1 children aged 1-6 years undergoing subumbilical surgery was conducted. Patients were divided into 2 groups to receive

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... her fentanyl 2 µgs/kg (FR) or morphine 20 µgs/kg (MR) in ropivacaine 0.2% (1mL/kg) for caudal analgesia. The duration of analgesia (FLACC scale), sedation and side effects were observed. RESULT The mean duration of analgesia was 10.42 (0.89) hour in MR group compared to 5.78 (0.87) hour in FR group (P, 0.0001). Subjects in MR group remained more sedated than FR group. Vomiting was observed in 15% and 10% in MR and FR group respectively. Itching was 15% and 5% in MR and FR group respectively. No hypotension, bradycardia or respiratory depression was observed in any subject. CONCLUSION Caudal morphine 20 µgs/kg in ropivacaine 0.2% provides longer duration of analgesia and sedation compared to caudal fentanyl 2 µg/kg in ropivacaine 0.2% (1 mL/kg) without any significant side effect in children in subumbilical surgery. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE : Swaro S, Banerjee S, Kuanar D, et al. Comparative study of effect of caudal morphine and fentanyl added to ropivacaine in paediatric infraumbilical surgery.