Dexamethasone in Prolonging the Duration of Spinal Anesthesia Among Pregnant Patients

July 19, 2025 updated by: Huda Tariq, Rawalpindi Medical College

Role of Intravenous Dexamethasone in Prolonging the Duration of Sub-Arachnoid Block in Pregnant Patients Undergoing Lower Segment Cesarean Section

Lower segment C section is one of the most commonly performed surgeries worldwide. It is performed in spinal anesthesia. During Spinal Anesthesia a local anesthetic drug is administered in a space surrounding spinal cord and it blocks nerves originating from spinal cord providing both anesthesia and analgesia. This technique avoids harmful exposure of drugs to the baby inside the womb of mother. However this technique provides anesthesia and analgesia of limited duration which can be prolonged by addition of drugs to patient management regimen. One such drug is Dexamethasone which is a steroid commonly administered in the peri-operative period.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

To prolong the duration of Sub-Arachnoid block number of drugs which are known as adjuvants can be used. One of the commonly used adjuvant is Dexamethasone a steroid given by intravenous route having anti-emetic and anti-inflammatory effect. This drug also prolongs the duration of Sub-Arachnoid block which can be helpful in case of lengthy surgical procedure and also extends the duration of analgesia in the post operative period.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

110

Phase

  • Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • Pakistan
    • Punjab
      • Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan, 46000
        • Recruiting
        • Benazir Bhutto Hospital Rawalpindi
        • Contact:
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class: II and above.
  • Elective Cesarean section under Spinal Anesthesia.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Gestational diabetes
  • Body mass index >35 kg/m2
  • Diabetes mellitus
  • Adrenal insufficiency
  • Chronically receiving steroids
  • Allergic to study medications
  • Sensory block level less than T4

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Group Dexamethasone
Drug: Dexamethasone
Immediately after sub-arachnoid block 8mg of Dexamethasone will be administered intravenously
Placebo Comparator: Group Control
Drug: Placebo
2ml of Normal saline will be given intravenously immediately after administration of spinal anesthesia

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Time for block to regress by two dermatomes in post operative period
Time Frame: This will be the time in minutes from end of C section in post operative period for the block to regress by two dermatomes
This will be the time in minutes from end of C section in post operative period for the block to regress by two dermatomes

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Time to rescue analgesia
Time Frame: This will be the time in minutes from the end of Cesarean section in the post operative period to first rescue analgesia.
This will be the time in minutes from the end of Cesarean section in the post operative period to first rescue analgesia.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Rawalpindi Medical College

Investigators

  • Study Chair: Abeera Zareen, MBBS,FCPS, Rawalpindi Medical College

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

July 20, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

October 20, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

October 20, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 19, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 19, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

July 28, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 28, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 19, 2025

Last Verified

July 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 201/IREF/RMU/2025

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

Yes

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

Yes

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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