Background: Caudal anesthesia is one of the most popular, reliable and safe methods of pain relief in children and can provide pain relief for various surgical procedures below the navel.

Aim: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the caudal use of dexmedetomidine in caudal anesthesia in children.

Methods: The subject of the study was 46 children with physical status I and II class of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), aged 0 to 12 years, who underwent elective surgeries below the navel, such as hernia repair, orchiopexy, hypospadias repair, epispadias, etc.

Results: The duration of caudal analgesia was determined from the moment the anesthetic was injected until the moment the child first complained of pain or the time when the first postoperative analgesia was required. The average duration of postoperative caudal analgesia in patients of group A was 4.21 ± 0.88, while in patients of group B this duration was 10.18 ± 0.85 hours.

Conclusions. Our results show that the addition of dexmedetomidine to the local anesthetic for caudal block significantly increases the duration of analgesia and reduces the need for analgesics. More data is also needed on the neurological safety of dexmedetomidine.

Key words: dexmedetomidine,caudal block, bupivacaine.