Intravenous Dexamethasone to Increase the Analgesic Duration of Interscalene Block

Summary

Interscalene brachial plexus block provides excellent but time limited analgesia. Intravenous dexamethasone increases the analgesic duration of a single-shot interscalene block with ropivacaine for shoulder arthroscopic surgery. We want to evaluate the effect of two different doses (dexamethasone 10 mg i.v. vs 4 mg i.v. vs placebo) on the analgesic duration of a single-shot inter scalene block. Our study hypothesis is that dexamethasone 4 mg i.v. is equivalent to dexamethasone10 mg i.v. in prolonging the analgesic duration of a single-shot interscalene block with ropivacaine.

Timeline

Start

2014-09

Primary completion

2015-10

Completion

2015-11

Outcome

Met primary endpoint

paper This difference was statistically significant for D4 and D10 compared with placebo PMID 28050801 ↗

paper D4 and D10 compared with placebo (median difference [MD], 7.8 hr; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.6 to 11.1 hr; P < 0.001 PMID 28050801 ↗

Publications

• Chalifoux F, Colin F, St-Pierre P, Godin N, Brulotte V. Low dose intravenous dexamethasone (4 mg and 10 mg) significantly prolongs the analgesic duration of single-shot interscalene block after arthroscopic shoulder surgery: a prospective randomized placebo-controlled study. Can J Anaesth. 2017 Mar;64(3):280-289. doi: 10.1007/s12630-016-0796-6. Epub 2017 Jan 3.

Drugs

Evaluation	Drug	Modality	Dose	Route
Subject	Dexamethasone	Small molecule	4 mg	Intravenous
Subject	Dexamethasone	Small molecule	10 mg	Intravenous

Indications

No indication recorded.