• Int Orthop · Jan 2014

    Randomized Controlled Trial

    Low-dose dexamethasone with levobupivacaine improves analgesia after supraclavicular brachial plexus blockade.

    • Jasminka Persec, Zoran Persec, Mario Kopljar, Miroslav Zupcic, Livija Sakic, Iva Korecic Zrinjscak, and Dragan Korolija Marinic.
    • Clinical Department of Anesthesiology, Resuscitation and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital Dubrava, Av. G. Suska 6, Zagreb, Croatia, jpersec@xnet.hr.
    • Int Orthop. 2014 Jan 1;38(1):101-5.

    PurposeWe conducted ultrasound-guided single-shot supraclavicular blockade and investigated the analgesic effect of dexamethasone added to levobupivacaine. The aim of this study was to determine whether the addition of low-dose dexamethasone to levobupivacaine would prolong the duration of analgesia sufficiently to avoid additional intravenous analgesic use for the first 24 hours postoperatively.MethodsThis randomised controlled study assessed 70 patients undergoing upper-extremity surgery. Patients were eligible if there 18 years or over with American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) physical status I, II or III. Patients were randomly assigned to receive 25 ml 0.5% levobupivacaine plus four milligrams dexamethasone (group 1) or 25 ml 0.5% levobupivacaine plus one millilitre saline (group 2). Pain scores, analgesic consumption and time estimation at which they perceived that sensory and motor blockade started and resolved were recorded.ResultsDuration of sensory (1,260 min. in group 1 vs 600 min. in group 2) and motor (1,200 min. in group 1 vs 700 min. in group 2) blockade were significantly longer in group 1 (P < 0.05). Postoperative pain levels in group 1 were significantly lower (P < 0.05) at all investigation times. Analgesia consumption was significantly lower (P < 0.05) in group 1; at six and 12 hours, no patient required additional analgesia, and at 24 hours, only two patients compared with 17 in the levobupivacaine group required additional analgesia.ConclusionUsing single-shot low-dose dexamethasone in a mixture with levobupivacaine results in prolonged analgesia duration and less analgesic use compared with levobupivacaine alone.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…