The Effects of Dexamethasone on the Duration of Sciatic Nerve Blocks
Status:
Terminated
Trial end date:
2011-05-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Dexamethasone is a commonly used steroid. This medication has been used for many years by
physicians for many different indications. Recent articles, multiple case reports, and
experience at this institution have indicated that dexamethasone successfully prolongs the
effective duration of local anesthetics for regional blocks. This can cause a significant
reduction in postoperative pain and the decreased need for postoperative narcotics. Although
other adjuncts can be used for prolonging nerve blocks, epinephrine causes local
vasoconstriction which can cause ischemia and nerve damage in a large nerve such as the
sciatic nerve.Dexamethasone will not cause this problem and yet could prolong the duration of
a sciatic nerve block. Therefore, the goal of this study is to prospectively evaluate the
effectiveness of dexamethasone, both locally through the nerve block and systemically via IV
administration, in prolonging the effective duration of local anesthetics when used in
sciatic nerve blocks.