Dexamethasone Versus Dexmedetomidine as Adjuvants for Nerve Blocks

A Randomized Comparison Between Perineural Dexamethasone and Perineural Dexmedetomidine as Adjuvants for Ultrasound-Guided Infraclavicular Blocks

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.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Pain, Postoperative; Pain, Acute; Upper Extremity Injury
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Dexamethasone; Drug: Dexmedetomidine

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 120
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Chile
  • Metropolitana
    • Santiago, Metropolitana, Chile, 8380456
      • Hospital Clinico Universidad de Chile

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

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

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Triple

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Perineural dexamethasone; addition of dexamethasone to local anesthetics in infraclavicular brachial plexus block	Drug: Dexamethasone; Dexamethasone as perineural local anesthetic adjuvant
Active Comparator: Perineural dexmedetomidine; addition of dexmedetomidine to local anesthetics in infraclavicular brachial plexus block	Drug: Dexmedetomidine; Dexmedetomidine as perineural local anesthetic adjuvant

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Motor block duration	Elapsed time since the end of LA injection until return of hand and fingers movement	24 hours after block

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Sensory block duration	Elapsed time since the end of LA injection until return of hand and fingers sensation	24 hours after block
Analgesic block duration	Elapsed time since the end of LA injection until first sensation of pain in surgical area	24 hours after block
Block performance time	Elapsed time from skin desinfection until the end of LA injection	1 hour before surgery
Intensity of pain during block procedure	Evaluated with a numeric rating score from 0 to 10	1 hour before surgery
Block onset time	Time required to reach a minimal sensorimotor composite score of 14 points out of a maximum of 16 points	1 hour before surgery
Sensory and motor block score	Sensorimotor block assessed every 5 minutes until 30 minutes using a 16-point composite score evaluating sensory and motor block of musculocutaneus, medium, radial and ulnar nerves. Sensation will be assessed with ice in each nerve territory with a 0 to 2 point scale. 0= no block, patients can feel cold; 1= analgesic block, patient can feel touch but not cold; 2= anesthetic block, patient cannot feel cold or touch. Motor function will be assessed for each nerve with a 0 to 2 points scale where 0= no motor block; 1= paresis; 2= paralysis. Succesfull blocks at 30 minutes correlate with a final score ( sum of all individual sensory and motor scores) of at least 14 points out of 16.	30 minutes post injection
Incidence of complete block	Percentage of blocks with a minimal sensorimotor composite score of 14 points out of a maximum of 16 points at 30 minutes post injection	30 minutes post injection
Perioperative glycemic levels	Capillary dextrose measurements at pre block, 1 hour post-surgery and 6 hours post-surgery	Perioperative period
Perioperative median artery pressure (MAP)	Average of MAP and HR registered during preblock, intraoperative and up to 2 hours of postoperative period	2 hours after surgery
Perioperative heart rate (HR)	Average MAP registered during preblock, intraoperative and up to 2 hours of postoperative period	2 hours after surgery
Postoperative persistent sedation	Persistent sedation after surgery using Ramsay sedation scale. 1= anxious agitated or restless; 2= co-operative, oriented and tranquil; 3= responds to command only; 4= brisk response to light pain or loud auditory stimulus; 5= sluggish response to light pain or loud auditory stimulus; 6= no response.	2 hours after surgery
Respiratory depression	Low respiratory rate (lower than 8 breaths per minute) or persistent oxygen requirement (pulse oximetry lower than 90% without supplementary oxygen)	2 hours after surgery
Incidence of block side effects	Presence of paresthesia, local anesthetic systemic toxicity, vascular puncture, pneumothorax, hemidiaphragmatic paralysis, Horner syndrome or hoarseness	2 hours after surgery
Persistent neurologic deficit	Presence of persistent sensory or motor postoperative deficit	7 days post surgery

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Chile

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Abdallah FW, Johnson J, Chan V, Murgatroyd H, Ghafari M, Ami N, Jin R, Brull R. Intravenous dexamethasone and perineural dexamethasone similarly prolong the duration of analgesia after supraclavicular brachial plexus block: a randomized, triple-arm, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2015 Mar-Apr;40(2):125-32. doi: 10.1097/AAP.0000000000000210. Erratum In: Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2015 Jul-Aug;40(4):398.
• Desmet M, Braems H, Reynvoet M, Plasschaert S, Van Cauwelaert J, Pottel H, Carlier S, Missant C, Van de Velde M. I.V. and perineural dexamethasone are equivalent in increasing the analgesic duration of a single-shot interscalene block with ropivacaine for shoulder surgery: a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled study. Br J Anaesth. 2013 Sep;111(3):445-52. doi: 10.1093/bja/aet109. Epub 2013 Apr 15.
• Choi S, Rodseth R, McCartney CJ. Effects of dexamethasone as a local anaesthetic adjuvant for brachial plexus block: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials. Br J Anaesth. 2014 Mar;112(3):427-39. doi: 10.1093/bja/aet417. Epub 2014 Jan 10.
• Abdallah FW, Brull R. Facilitatory effects of perineural dexmedetomidine on neuraxial and peripheral nerve block: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Anaesth. 2013 Jun;110(6):915-25. doi: 10.1093/bja/aet066. Epub 2013 Apr 15.
• Abdallah FW, Dwyer T, Chan VW, Niazi AU, Ogilvie-Harris DJ, Oldfield S, Patel R, Oh J, Brull R. IV and Perineural Dexmedetomidine Similarly Prolong the Duration of Analgesia after Interscalene Brachial Plexus Block: A Randomized, Three-arm, Triple-masked, Placebo-controlled Trial. Anesthesiology. 2016 Mar;124(3):683-95. doi: 10.1097/ALN.0000000000000983.
• Leurcharusmee P, Aliste J, Van Zundert TC, Engsusophon P, Arnuntasupakul V, Tiyaprasertkul W, Tangjitbampenbun A, Ah-Kye S, Finlayson RJ, Tran DQ. A Multicenter Randomized Comparison Between Intravenous and Perineural Dexamethasone for Ultrasound-Guided Infraclavicular Block. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2016 May-Jun;41(3):328-33. doi: 10.1097/AAP.0000000000000386.
• Aliste J, Leurcharusmee P, Engsusophon P, Gordon A, Michelagnoli G, Sriparkdee C, Tiyaprasertkul W, Tran DQ, Van Zundert TC, Finlayson RJ, Tran DQH. A randomized comparison between intravenous and perineural dexamethasone for ultrasound-guided axillary block. Can J Anaesth. 2017 Jan;64(1):29-36. doi: 10.1007/s12630-016-0741-8. Epub 2016 Sep 23.
• Chong MA, Berbenetz NM, Lin C, Singh S. Perineural Versus Intravenous Dexamethasone as an Adjuvant for Peripheral Nerve Blocks: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2017 May/Jun;42(3):319-326. doi: 10.1097/AAP.0000000000000571.
• Hussain N, Grzywacz VP, Ferreri CA, Atrey A, Banfield L, Shaparin N, Vydyanathan A. Investigating the Efficacy of Dexmedetomidine as an Adjuvant to Local Anesthesia in Brachial Plexus Block: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 18 Randomized Controlled Trials. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2017 Mar/Apr;42(2):184-196. doi: 10.1097/AAP.0000000000000564.
• Aliste J, Layera S, Bravo D, Fernandez D, Jara A, Garcia A, Finlayson RJ, Tran DQ. Randomized comparison between perineural dexamethasone and dexmedetomidine for ultrasound-guided infraclavicular block. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2019 Jul 11:rapm-2019-100680. doi: 10.1136/rapm-2019-100680. Online ahead of print.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 16, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 30, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): April 30, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 4, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 31, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): August 1, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 1, 2019
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 29, 2019
• Last Verified: April 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: dexmedetomidine; dexamethasone; nerve block adjuvants; nerve block duration
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Postoperative Complications; Pain; Neurologic Manifestations; Wounds and Injuries; Pain, Postoperative; Acute Pain; Arm Injuries; Physiological Effects of Drugs; Adrenergic Agents; Neurotransmitter Agents; Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action; Central Nervous System Depressants; Autonomic Agents; Peripheral Nervous System Agents; Analgesics; Sensory System Agents; Analgesics, Non-Narcotic; Anti-Inflammatory Agents; Antineoplastic Agents; Antiemetics; Gastrointestinal Agents; Glucocorticoids; Hormones; Hormones, Hormone Substitutes, and Hormone Antagonists; Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal; Adrenergic alpha-2 Receptor Agonists; Adrenergic alpha-Agonists; Adrenergic Agonists; Hypnotics and Sedatives; Dexamethasone; Dexmedetomidine
• Other Study ID Numbers: 953/18

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: No

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No