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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2023 Dec;78(12):1465-1471.
doi: 10.1111/anae.16149. Epub 2023 Oct 21.

The effect of oral dexamethasone on duration of analgesia after upper limb surgery under infraclavicular brachial plexus block: a randomised controlled trial

M Maagaard  1 , M Z Plambech  2 , K S Funder  3 , N K Schou  1 , A K Mølgaard  2 , E R Stormholt  1 , M F Leth  1 , S Bukhari  1 , A Mortensen  2 , T H Lunn  3 , I Tryggedsson  4 , A K Nørskov  5 , C Zamany  6 , P Toquer  6 , P Jaeger  7 , J H Andersen  1 , O Mathiesen  1
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Free article
Randomized Controlled Trial

The effect of oral dexamethasone on duration of analgesia after upper limb surgery under infraclavicular brachial plexus block: a randomised controlled trial

M Maagaard et al. Anaesthesia. 2023 Dec.
Free article

Abstract

The effects of oral dexamethasone on peripheral nerve blocks have not been investigated. We randomly allocated adults scheduled for forearm or hand surgery to oral placebo (n = 61), dexamethasone 12 mg (n = 61) or dexamethasone 24 mg (n = 57) about 45 min before lateral infraclavicular block. Mean (SD) time until first pain after block were: 841 (327) min; 1171 (318) min; and 1256 (395) min, respectively. Mean (98.3%CI) differences in time until first postoperative pain for dexamethasone 24 mg vs. placebo and vs. dexamethasone 12 mg were: 412 (248-577) min, p < 0.001; and 85 (-78 to 249) min, p = 0.21, respectively. Mean (98.3%CI) difference in time until first postoperative pain for dexamethasone 12 mg vs. placebo was 330 (186-474) min, p < 0.001. Both 24 mg and 12 mg of oral dexamethasone increased the time until first postoperative pain compared with placebo in patients having upper limb surgery under infraclavicular brachial plexus block.

Keywords: dexamethasone adjunct; infraclavicular; peripheral nerve block; randomised clinical trial; regional anaesthesia.

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