A Prospective Study of Efficacy of Dexamethasone Used as Adjuvant to Levobupivacaine Administered for Brachial Plexus Block by Supraclavicular Approach for Upper Limb Surgery

Many studies have been done on the adjuvants used along with local anaesthetics for Brachial Plexus block. The drug Levobupivacaine has wider margin of safety and has been used in our study along with Dexamethasone as adjuvant. Method: We performed a prospective, randomized, controlled, single blinded study on a total of 70 patients who were randomly allocated into two groups namely Group N (Normal Saline) and Group D (Dexamethasone). Both groups received 28 ml 0.5% Levobupivacaine. Group D received 2 ml (8 mg) Dexamethasone as adjuvant while Group N received 2 ml Normal Saline. Onset of Sensory blockade and motor blockade were measured, respectively, by time taken to loss of pin prick sensation and loss of muscle movement, after administration of drug. Duration of sensory block was measured by time till patient rst reported pain after sensory blockade. Result:The onset time of sensory block was 10.2 ± 1.67 minutes in Group D compared to 12.3 ± 1.88 minutes in Group N (p value <0.0001). The onset time of motor block in Group D was 14.4 ± 1.73 minutes and in Group N 16.3 ± 1.97 min (p value = 0.0002). The duration of sensory block was 944.1± 64.79 minutes in Group D versus 654.7 ± 71.61 min in Group N (p value < 0.0001). Conclusion: It was observed that Group D had signicantly faster onset of sensory and motor blockade while also experiencing longer duration of analgesia.