Dexamethasone and Dexmedetomidine Versus Dexmedetomidine Alone With Bupivacaine in Ultrasound Guided Rectus Sheath Block

Major abdominal surgery involves a variety of surgical procedures on a variety of patients, necessitating a broad spectrum of pain and analgesic needs. A crucial element of multimodal analgesia that spares the use of opioids is regional anaesthesia. Rectus sheath block (RSB) is a common regional block for post-operative analgesia after abdominal surgeries with midline incisions. A good analgesic effect has been reported for upper as well as lower abdominal midline incisions.(2) It was firstly described in 1899 with the aim of deposition of local anaesthetic (LA) in the virtual space between the posterior wall of the rectus abdominis muscle and its sheath. The anaesthetic injected into this space is proposed to spread freely up and down to block the anterior branches of the thoracoabdominal nerves before they emerge from the rectus sheath. The ventral branches of the lower thoracic nerves (T6-T12), which are located between the rectus abdominis muscle and its sheath, innervate the central region of the anterior abdominal wall. In general, a single injection of local anesthetic can give analgesia for 4-12 hours following surgery, depending on the drug's chemical composition and degree of lipid solubility. Since postoperative pain might last for several days, prolonging the duration of action of local anaesthetics is important.(5) To prolong the postoperative analgesic period of local anaesthetics, many adjuncts have been used, including fentanyl, neostigmine, clonidine, and most recently dexamethasone and dexmedetomidine.(6) Dexamethasone is a highly potent, long-acting glucocorticoid. It reduces the activity of nociceptive C-fibres via binding to glucocorticoid receptors, which inhibits potassium conductance. It may also lengthen the duration of analgesia by systemic anti-inflammatory actions and local vasoconstrictive action. Dexmedetomidine is one of the α -adrenoceptor agonists with α2 -adrenoceptor selectivity with both analgesic and sedative properties. it shortens the duration of the sensory and motor blockade while lengthening the initial blocking time when used as a perineural adjuvant

NCT Number	NCT06942884
Lead Sponsor	sarah mohamed
Conditions	Dexmedetomidine, Dexamethasone, Abdominal Surgeries
Enrollment	40 participants
Start Date	2024-01-30
Primary Completion	2025-06 (estimated)
Study Completion	2025-12 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2025-04-24