Perineural and Systemic Dexamethasone and Ulnar Nerve Block Duration: A Randomized, Blinded, Placebo-controlled Trial in Healthy Volunteers

ConclusionsPerineural dexamethasone as an adjunct to bupivacaine in healthy volunteers resulted in a greater duration of an ulnar nerve block when compared with placebo. Systemic dexamethasone resulted in a similar duration as placebo.Editor ’s PerspectiveWhat We Already Know about This TopicPerineural dexamethasone may prolong the duration of postoperative analgesia afforded by a regional anestheticOther studies have suggested that intravenous dexamethasone has analgesic properties that could contribute to regional anesthetic durationWhat This Article Tells Us That Is NewWhen carefully controlling for the effects of systemic dexamethasone, perineural administered dexamethasone prolongs a peripheral nerve blockUnder carefully controlled conditions in healthy volunteers, systemic dexamethasone does not appear to prolong nerve block duration
Source: Anesthesiology - Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: research