Dexamethasone Added to Levobupivacaine Improves Postoperative Analgesia

Not Applicable

• Conditions: Analgesia; Brachial Plexus Anesthesia
• Interventions: Procedure: supraclavicular brachial plexus block

• Registration Number: NCT01739270
• Lead Sponsor: University Hospital Dubrava

Brief Summary

Adding dexamethasone to local anesthetic will significantly prolong duration of brachial plexus anesthesia and analgesia.

Detailed Description

Operations of upper extremities are often performed in regional anesthesia blocks. Single-injection blocks are effective, but time limited. Adding 4mg of dexamethasone to 0.5% levobupivacaine will significantly prolong duration of brachial plexus anesthesia and analgesia for fracture operations of upper extremity. This effect will result in less opioid use postoperatively.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2012-10
• Study First Submitted: 2012-11-25
• Study First Submitted QC: 2012-11-30
• Study First Posted: 2012-12-03
• Primary Completion: 2013-01
• Status Verified: 2015-07
• Last Update Submitted: 2015-07-28
• Last Update Posted: 2015-07-29

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: UNKNOWN
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 55

Inclusion Criteria

• patients aged 18 years or older
• ASA (American Society of Anesthesiologists) physical status I, II or III

Exclusion Criteria

• refusal of the patients to give informed consent
• preexisting coagulation disorders
• local infection at the site of the block
• neuropathy
• drug or alcohol abusers
• known allergy to the drug used in study
• operation time exceeding six hours

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
dexamethasone with levobupivacaine	supraclavicular brachial plexus block	25ml 0.5% levobupivacaine plus 4mg Dexamethasone are given for supraclavicular brachial plexus block for upper extremity surgery
levobupivacaine	supraclavicular brachial plexus block	25ml 0.5% levobupivacaine plus 1ml 0.9% saline are given for supraclavicular brachial plexus block for upper extremity surgery

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
duration of analgesia	24 hour postoperatively	Duration of analgesia after supraclavicular block

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
postoperative analgesic consumption	24 hour

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Clinical Hospital Dubrava; 🇭🇷 Zagreb, Croatia