Intravenous dexmedetomidine is known to attenuate stress response in patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery. We investigated whether the addition of the highly selective alpha-2 adrenergic agonist dexmedetomidine into ropivacaine for ultrasound-guided transversus abdominis plane block could inhibit stress response during laparoscopic surgery, and determined the optimal dose of dexmedetomidine in it. |