The investigators will assess the beneficial and harmful effects of oral dexamethasone (12 mg or 24 mg) versus placebo in patients undergoing orthopaedic surgery of their hand or forearm with a lateral infraclavicular brachial plexus block as the means of providing anaesthesia and analgesia.
This is a randomised, blinded, placebo-controlled, multicentre, parallel, 3-arm clinical trial assessing the effects of adjunct oral dexamethasone (12mg or 24mg) versus placebo on time to first pain (i.e. block duration) in patients undergoing surgery of the forearm or hand. At the initiation of the trial, no other trials had examined the effects of oral dexamethasone as an adjunct to peripheral nerve blocks. The investigators will randomise participants to either oral dexamethasone 12mg, oral dexamethasone 24mg, or placebo. Participants will be allocated according to a computer-generated random allocation sequence with random permuted blocks and stratification by site. Glostrup Pharmacy produced the trial medication and sequentially numbered the drug containers, thereby concealing the allocation. All involved will be blinded for the entire duration of the trial (participant, carers, investigators, people delivering the intervention, observers/outcome assessors, statisticians). Blinding will not be broken until agreement has been reached within the steering committee regarding the statistical analysis. The trial medication is produced as identically appearing opaque capsules containing either dexamethasone or placebo. The trial medication is contained within identically appearing, sequentially labelled containers. The investigators expect little to no attrition bias since the intervention is simple with a short follow-up. The investigators expect some missing data for duration of the motor block, as most participants will have the affected limb immobilized post-surgery, thereby making assessment of return of motor function difficult. The investigators pre-defined the statistical analysis plan prior to unblinded data becoming available. The analysis plan can be found on: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.22491214.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
QUADRUPLE
Enrollment
180
Two identically appearing, opaque capsules will be administered: one capsule containing 12 mg of dexamethasone and one capsule containing placebo.
Two identically appearing, opaque capsules will be administered: two capsules containing placebo.
Two identically appearing, opaque capsules will be administered: two capsules each containing 12mg dexamethasone.
Department of Anaesthesiology
Køge, Zealand Region of Denmark, Denmark
Department of Anaesthesiology
Slagelse, Zealand Region of Denmark, Denmark
Department of Anaesthesiology, Bispebjerg Hospital
Copenhagen, Denmark
Time to first pain (measured in minutes)
Time to first pain will be recorded by the patient and measured as the time to first perceived pain in minutes in the surgical area. The patient will be asked to record the time and date of their first perceived pain in their trial log. This date and time will be compared to the date and time of the block performance as recorded in the electronic Case Report Form. In the event of the patient not experiencing any pain, the time to first pain will be set to 48 hours.
Time frame: 48 hours
Duration of the motor block (measured in minutes)
Duration of the motor block will be recorded by the patient and measured in minutes as the time from removal of the needle to the first movement of their bicep muscle on the operative site, and not the first movement of their distal extremity. The patient will record the date and time of their time to first bicep movement on the operative side in their trial log. This date and time will be compared to the date and time of the block performance as registered in the electronic Case Report Form. In the event of the patient not regaining movement of the bicep, the duration of the motor block will be set to 48 hours.
Time frame: 48 hours
Quality of sleep (Numerical Rating Scale) postoperative night 1
Sleep will be measured on the Numerical Rating Scale from '0' to '10' points where '0' points correspond to the worst possible sleep and '10' points correspond to the best possible sleep. This outcome measure will be recorded by the patients in their trial log after the first postoperative night.
Time frame: 24 hours
Quality of sleep (Numerical Rating Scale) postoperative night 2
Sleep will be measured on the Numerical Rating Scale from '0' to '10' points where '0' points correspond to the worst possible sleep and '10' points correspond to the best possible sleep. This outcome measure will be recorded by the patients in their trial log after the second postoperative night.
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Time frame: 48 hours
Proportion of participants with one or more serious adverse events.
Serious adverse events as defined by the ICH-GCP will be collected and reported as the proportion of participants with one or more serious adverse events. Furthermore, the individual serious adverse events will also be reported.
Time frame: 30 days
Proportion of participants with one or more adverse events not considered to be serious
We will record any adverse events not considered to be serious. We will report the proportion of participants with one or more adverse events not considered to be serious and all individual adverse events not considered to be serious.
Time frame: 48 hours