• Paul J Zufferey, Robin Chaux, Pierre-Adrien Lachaud, Xavier Capdevila, Julien Lanoiselée, and Edouard Ollier.
• Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, University Hospital of Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France; Clinical Pharmacology Department, University Hospital of Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France. Electronic address: paul.zufferey@chu-st-etienne.fr.
• Br J Anaesth. 2024 May 1; 132 (5): 112211321122-1132.

BackgroundSuperiority of perineural over intravenous dexamethasone at extending nerve block analgesia has been suggested but without considering the dose-response relationships for each route of administration.MethodsRandomised control studies that evaluated intravenous or perineural dexamethasone as an adjuvant to unilateral peripheral nerve blocks in adults were searched up to October 2023 in MEDLINE, Central, Google Scholar, and reference lists of previous systematic reviews. The Cochrane Risk-of-Bias tool was used. A maximum effect (Emax) model-based network meta-analysis was undertaken to evaluate the dose-response relationships of dexamethasone.ResultsA total of 118 studies were selected (9284 patients; 35 with intravenous dexamethasone; 106 with perineural dexamethasone; dose range 1-16 mg). Studies with unclear or high risk of bias overestimated the effect of dexamethasone. Bias-corrected estimates indicated a maximum fold increase in analgesia duration of 1.7 (95% credible interval (CrI) 1.4-1.9) with dexamethasone, with no difference between perineural and intravenous routes. Trial simulations indicated that 4 mg of perineural dexamethasone increased the mean duration of analgesia for long-acting local anaesthetics from 11.1 h (95% CrI 9.4-13.1) to 16.5 h (95% CrI 14.0-19.3) and halved the rate of postoperative nausea and vomiting. A similar magnitude of effect was observed with 8 mg of intravenous dexamethasone.ConclusionsUsed as an adjuvant for peripheral nerve block, intravenous dexamethasone can be as effective as perineural dexamethasone in prolonging analgesic duration, but is less potent, hence requiring higher doses. The evidence is limited because of the observational nature of the dose-response relationships and the quality of the included studies.Systematic Review ProtocolPROSPERO CRD42020141689.Copyright © 2024 British Journal of Anaesthesia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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