Intravenous and Perineural Dexamethasone for Ultrasound-Guided Axillary Blocks

Brachial Plexus Block Duration Clinical Trial

Official title:

A Randomized Comparison Between Intravenous and Perineural Dexamethasone for Ultrasound-Guided Axillary Blocks

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02629835
• Other study ID #: MontrealGH
• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 2/Phase 3
• First received: December 10, 2015
• Last updated: March 21, 2017
• Start date: January 2016
• Est. completion date: June 2016

Study information

• Verified date: March 2017
• Source: Montreal General Hospital
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Dexamethasone prolong the duration of brachial plexus blocks, but the optimal route, intravenous (IV) or perineural (PN), remains controversial.

This Multi-centric trial compare IV and PN dexamethasone for ultrasound-guided axillary brachial plexus blocks (AXBs). Research hypothesis is that PN modality will outlast its IV counterpart. Since analgesic duration and sensory duration can be influenced by intake of pain medications and surgical trauma to small cutaneous nerves, the investigators will select motor block duration as the main outcome.

Description:

After Ethics Committee of the McGill University Health Centre, a total of 150 patients undergoing upper extremity surgery (below the elbow) will be recruited.

All AXBs will be supervised by one of the coauthors and conducted preoperatively in an induction room. This area will have full access to an oxygen source, resuscitative equipment and drugs.

All patients will have fasted for at least eight hours. An IV cannula will be placed prior the block and will be monitored and given oxygen at 2-4 L/min through nasal cannulas.

Light sedation will be provided for patient comfort if needed.Patients will be placed supine with the shoulder abducted and the elbow flexed. The AXB will have a puncture site superior to the axillary artery. After skin disinfection and draping, a skin wheal will be raised with 3 mL of lidocaine 1.5%.

In both groups, 30 mL of lidocaine 1.0%-bupivacaine 0.25% with epinephrine 5 µ/mL will be used. A 22-gauge, 5 cm block will be advanced under direct US vision toward the musculocutaneous nerve. Six mL of LA will be deposited in this location. The needle will then be directed posterior to the artery, at 6 o'clock position and twenty-four mL of LA will be deposited to obtain a spread around the artery.

Patients will be randomized to receive 8 mg of IV or PN dexamethasone. In the IV group, patients will receive 0.8 mL of dexamethasone (10 mg/mL) intravenously and 0.8 mL of normal saline will be added to the injectate through the block needle. In the PN group, patients will receive 0.8 mL of normal saline intravenously and 0.8 mL of dexamethasone (10 mg/mL) will be added to the injectate through the block needle.

A research assistant will prepare the IV and PN injectates. The operator, patient and investigator assessing the block will be blinded to group allocation.

If placement of the needle tip in the desired location is unsuccessful after 15 minutes, the procedure will be stopped and the patient excluded from the study. Brachial plexus blockade will be carried out using an alternative method. If the alternative method fails as well, the patient will be given general anesthesia and intravenous narcotics will be used for postoperative analgesia

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 150
• Est. completion date: June 2016
• Est. primary completion date: June 2016
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 80 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Below Elbow surgery

• Age between 18 and 80 years

• American Society of Anesthesiologists classification 1-3

• Body mass index between 18 and 35 kg/m2

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 partial 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 axillary region

• Chronic pain syndromes requiring opioid intake at home

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Brachial Plexus Block Duration

Intervention

Other:
• intravenous 8 mg dexamethasone and perineural 0.8 ml of saline solution

• intravenous 0,8 ml of saline solution and perineural 8 mg of dexamethasone

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Canada	Montreal General Hospital, McGill University	Montreal	Quebec
Thailand	Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University,	Bangkok
Thailand	Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital	Chiang Mai

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Montreal General Hospital

Countries where clinical trial is conducted

Canada,  Thailand, 

References & Publications (15)

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, doubl — View Citation

Biradar PA, Kaimar P, Gopalakrishna K. Effect of dexamethasone added to lidocaine in supraclavicular brachial plexus block: A prospective, randomised, double-blind study. Indian J Anaesth. 2013 Mar;57(2):180-4. doi: 10.4103/0019-5049.111850. — View Citation

Cummings KC 3rd, Napierkowski DE, Parra-Sanchez I, Kurz A, Dalton JE, Brems JJ, Sessler DI. Effect of dexamethasone on the duration of interscalene nerve blocks with ropivacaine or bupivacaine. Br J Anaesth. 2011 Sep;107(3):446-53. doi: 10.1093/bja/aer159 — View Citation

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 — View Citation

González AP, Bernucci F, Pham K, Correa JA, Finlayson RJ, Tran DQ. Minimum effective volume of lidocaine for double-injection ultrasound-guided axillary block. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2013 Jan-Feb;38(1):16-20. doi: 10.1097/AAP.0b013e3182707176. — View Citation

Kawanishi R, Yamamoto K, Tobetto Y, Nomura K, Kato M, Go R, Tsutsumi YM, Tanaka K, Takeda Y. Perineural but not systemic low-dose dexamethasone prolongs the duration of interscalene block with ropivacaine: a prospective randomized trial. Local Reg Anesth. — View Citation

Movafegh A, Razazian M, Hajimaohamadi F, Meysamie A. Dexamethasone added to lidocaine prolongs axillary brachial plexus blockade. Anesth Analg. 2006 Jan;102(1):263-7. — View Citation

Parrington SJ, O'Donnell D, Chan VW, Brown-Shreves D, Subramanyam R, Qu M, Brull R. Dexamethasone added to mepivacaine prolongs the duration of analgesia after supraclavicular brachial plexus blockade. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2010 Sep-Oct;35(5):422-6. doi: 1 — View Citation

Persec J, Persec Z, Kopljar M, Zupcic M, Sakic L, Zrinjscak IK, Marinic DK. Low-dose dexamethasone with levobupivacaine improves analgesia after supraclavicular brachial plexus blockade. Int Orthop. 2014 Jan;38(1):101-5. doi: 10.1007/s00264-013-2094-z. — View Citation

Shrestha BR, Maharjan SK, Tabedar S. Supraclavicular brachial plexus block with and without dexamethasone - a comparative study. Kathmandu Univ Med J (KUMJ). 2003 Jul-Sep;1(3):158-60. — View Citation

Tandoc MN, Fan L, Kolesnikov S, Kruglov A, Nader ND. Adjuvant dexamethasone with bupivacaine prolongs the duration of interscalene block: a prospective randomized trial. J Anesth. 2011 Oct;25(5):704-9. doi: 10.1007/s00540-011-1180-x. — View Citation

Tran DQ, Bertini P, Zaouter C, Muñoz L, Finlayson RJ. A prospective, randomized comparison between single- and double-injection ultrasound-guided infraclavicular brachial plexus block. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2010 Jan-Feb;35(1):16-21. doi: 10.1097/AAP.0b013e — View Citation

Vieira PA, Pulai I, Tsao GC, Manikantan P, Keller B, Connelly NR. Dexamethasone with bupivacaine increases duration of analgesia in ultrasound-guided interscalene brachial plexus blockade. Eur J Anaesthesiol. 2010 Mar;27(3):285-8. doi: 10.1097/EJA.0b013e3 — View Citation

Yadav RK, Sah BP, Kumar P, Singh SN. Effectiveness of addition of neostigmine or dexamethasone to local anaesthetic in providing perioperative analgesia for brachial plexus block: A prospective, randomized, double blinded, controlled study. Kathmandu Univ — View Citation

Yaghoobi S, Seddighi M, Yazdi Z, Ghafouri R, Khezri MB. Comparison of Postoperative Analgesic Effect of Dexamethasone and Fentanyl Added to Lidocaine through Axillary Block in Forearm Fracture. Pain Res Treat. 2013;2013:761583. doi: 10.1155/2013/761583. — View Citation

* Note: There are 15 references in all — Click here to view all references

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Other	Demographic data	sex, age, weight, height, type of surgery	30 minutes
Other	Side effects	vascular puncture, hematoma at the site of puncture, toxic effects of LA	30-60 minutes
Other	Persistent deficit	All patients will be contacted after 7 days by a blinded observer asking about persistent sensory or motor deficit in relation with the blocked nerves.	7 days
Primary	Motor block duration	Duration of the motor block (defined as the temporal interval between the end of LA injection through the block needle and the return of movement to the hand and fingers). Patient is contacted at the next day of the surgery and asked about the time when the motor block started to disappear.	24 hours
Secondary	duration of the sensory block	defined as the temporal interval between the end of LA injection through the block needle and the return of sensation to the hand and fingers	24 hours
Secondary	Analgesia duration	defined as the temporal interval between the end of LA injection through the block needle and the appearance of pain at the surgical site	24 hours
Secondary	Onset time	Time required to reach a minimal score of 14 points of a total of 16. Sensory blockade will be graded according to a 3-point scale using a cold test: 0 = no block, 1 = analgesia (patient can feel touch, not cold), 2 = anesthesia (patient cannot fee touch). The cold test will be applied with light touch to avoid confusion with deep pressure sensation.; Motor blockade will also be graded on a 3-point scale: 0 = no block, 1 = paresis, 2 = paralysis (19). Motor blockade of the musculocutaneous, radial, median and ulnar nerves will be evaluated by elbow flexion (musculocutaneous), thumb abduction (radial), thumb opposition (median) and thumb adduction (ulnar).	30 minutes
Secondary	Success rate	Ability to proceed with surgery without the need for intravenous narcotics, general anesthesia, rescue blocks or LA infiltration by the surgeon. Just propofol based sedation (25-80 µg/kg/min) will be permitted if necessary, keeping always response to verbal stimulus.	30-60 minutes