Dexamethasone Versus Dexmedetomidine as Adjuvants for Nerve Blocks

University of Chile

Status

Completed

Conditions

Pain, Acute

Pain, Postoperative

Upper Extremity Injury

Treatments

Drug: Dexmedetomidine

Drug: Dexamethasone

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT03610893

953/18

Details and patient eligibility

About

When used as perineural (PN) adjuvants to local anesthetics (LAs), dexamethasone (DX) and dexmedetomidine (DXD) have been well documented to prolong the duration of peripheral nerve blocks. These drugs have important differences in terms of cost and safety profiles. This randomized controlled trial (RCT) will compare PN DX and PN DXD for ultrasound-guided infraclavicular brachial plexus blocks (ICBs).

Since analgesic and sensory duration can be influenced by factors different to block, motor block duration is the main outcome. The protocol is designed as an equivalency trial and hypothesize that both drugs result in similar durations. The equivalency margin is set at 3 hrs.

Enrollment

120 patients

Sex

All

Ages

18 to 75 years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

age between 18 and 75 years
American Society of Anesthesiologists classification 1-3
body mass index between 20 and 35

Exclusion criteria

adults who are unable to give their own consent
pre-existing neuropathy (assessed by history and physical examination)
coagulopathy (assessed by history and physical examination and, if deemed clinically necessary, by blood work up i.e. platelets ≤ 100, International Normalized Ratio ≥ 1.4 or prothrombin time ≥ 50)
renal failure (assessed by history and physical examination and, if deemed clinically necessary, by blood work up i.e. creatinine ≥ 100)
hepatic failure (assessed by history and physical examination and, if deemed clinically necessary, by blood work up i.e. transaminases ≥ 100)
allergy to local anesthetics (LAs)
pregnancy
prior surgery in the infraclavicular region
chronic pain syndromes requiring opioid intake at home