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CompletedNCT02917018Updated Jan 4, 2017

Effect of Dexmedetomidine on Stress Response and Emergence Agitation During Laparoscopic Surgery

A Phase 2/3 interventional study of Dexmedetomidine in Stress Response, sponsored by Assiut University. Completed at 1 site in Egypt. Open to participants aged 20 Years to 60 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2017-01-04.

Sponsored by Assiut University · Phase 2/3, Interventional, and Prevention

Phase
Phase 2/3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
90
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
20 Years to 60 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Emergence agitation is a post-anesthetic phenomenon that develops in the early phase of general anesthesia recovery, and is characterized by agitation, confusion, disorientation, and possible violent behavior. The incidence of emergence agitation is less common in adults as compared to pediatric patients. It may lead to serious consequences for the patient such as bleeding, falling, removal of catheters and self extubation, which lead to further complications like hypoxia and aspiration.

Despite its common occurrence, unclear etiology, and serious sequelae, emergence agitation has rarely been studied in adults.

The stress response to surgery is an unconscious response to tissue injury. Activation of the sympathetic nervous system, increase of catabolic hormone release and pituitary gland suppression are considered a response to surgical stress, in clinical practice these activities cause changes in heart rate, blood pressure and biochemical fluctuations of noradrenaline, adrenaline, dopamine, and cortisol. Above all, these fluctuations prolong hospitalization and delay patients discharge.

Dexmedetomidine is a highly selective alpha-2 receptor agonist having sedative, analgesic and sympatholytic properties. Decreased stress response to surgery ensuring a stable hemodynamic state is a beneficial property of the agent. Peri-operative use of dexmedetomidine also decreases postoperative opioid consumption, pain intensity, and antiemetic therapy. However, the data related to the effects of dexmedetomidine on reducing agitation from general anesthesia in adults are limited.

Read the detailed description

With no premedication, all patients will have pre-oxygenation for 3-5 minutes and intravenous access will be secured. NaCl 0.9% 4 ml/kg/h will be infused intraoperatively. General anesthesia will be induced by fentanyl 1 ug/kg, propofol 2 mg/kg and nimbex (cisatracurium) 0.15 mg/kg. Endotracheal intubation then will be done using oral ETT of appropriate size under direct laryngoscopy and secured at the angle of the mouth. Sevoflurane inhalational anesthetic (2-4 %) and nimbex 0.03 mg/kg will be used for maintenance of anesthesia. The lungs will be mechanically ventilated to keep intra-operative EtCo2 between 35-40 mmHg.

Intraoperative monitoring:

Routine monitors including ECG, non-invasive blood pressure, pulse oxymetry and EtCo2 will be recorded every 5 minutes during the intra-operative 20 minutes of the study drug administration. Bradycadia (heart rate ˂ 60 beat/minute) will be treated with iv atropine 0.5 mg. Hypotension (mean arterial blood pressure ˂ 60 mmHg) will be treated with iv ephedrine 5 mg increments. Duration of anesthesia, sevoflurane % and duration of surgery will be recorded.

At the end of surgery and stoppage of sevoflurane inhalation, neostigmine 0.04 mg/kg and atropine 0.02 mg/kg will be used for muscle relaxant reversal (Time 0 in the emergence process), patients will be extubated and transferred to the PACU for recovery and monitoring.

Assessment in PACU:

Routine monitoring will be continued during staying in PACU. During emergence, the level of agitation will be evaluated using the Ricker sedation-agitation scale (RSAS). The maximum level of agitation will be recorded for each patient at time 0, 5, 10, 20, 30, 60 and 120 minutes. Emergence agitation was defined as any score on the sedation-agitation scale ≥ 5. Dangerous agitation was defined as a sedation-agitation scale score = 7 (3). If dangerous agitation occurs, it will be treated with fentanyl 1 ug/kg.

Duration of stay in PACU will be recorded. Criteria for discharge from PACU will be applied according to the modified Aldrete scoring system. A score ≥ 9 was required for discharge.

Postoperative Analgesia:

The 10 points Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain measurement will be used to assess the severity of postoperative pain. Score 0 indicates no pain and score 10 indicates severe pain. If VAS ≥ 4, rescue analgesia will be indicated. Perfalgan infusion will be used as supplemental analgesia. The first dose and the total amount in 24 hours of perfalgan will be recorded. Patient's satisfaction will be recorded at the end of the first 24 hours postoperatively.

Blood Sampling:

Venous blood samples will be collected from peripheral extremities away from the intravenous infused limb. Samples will be withdrawn 30 minutes pre-operatively, 30 minutes after skin incision, 2 and 24 hours after end of surgery. The blood samples will be centrifuged at 3500 ×g for at least 10 minutes and then serum samples will be eluted. Blood glucose level will be also recorded at the same times.

Statistical Analysis:

Statistical analysis will be conducted with SPSS version 20 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) for Windows. The results will be expressed as mean ± SD, range, percentage. P-values \< 0.05 will be considered statistically significant.

02

Conditions studied

  • Stress Response

Keywords

  • Dexmedetomidine
  • Stress response
  • Emergence agitation
03

In context

Psychomotor Agitation

500 studies on the registry are indexed under Psychomotor Agitation; 55 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 90 is close to the median of 90 across 413 interventional studies indexed under Psychomotor Agitation.

Browse Psychomotor Agitation studies →

Lead sponsor

Assiut University is the lead sponsor of 4,901 studies on the registry; 2,098 are open to participants now.

Of its 13 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 0 (0%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
20 Years to 60 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • ASA I - II Laparoscopic cholecystectomy under general anesthesia

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with cardiac disease, diabetes. reactive upper airway disease. allergies to dexmedetomidine. cognitive disorders. renal insufficiency. hepatic dysfunction. Chronic use of analgesics, cortisone or drugs known to interact with dexmedetomidine.
05

Study design

Phase
Phase 2 / Phase 3
Primary purpose
Prevention
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Care provider)
Enrollment
90 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Dexmedetomidine 1

    patients will receive dexmedetomidine 1 mic/kg

    Drug: Dexmedetomidine

  • Active comparator
    Dexmedetomidine 0.75

    patients will receive dexmedetomidine 0.75 mic/kg

    Drug: Dexmedetomidine

  • Active comparator
    Dexmedetomidine 0.5

    patients will receive dexmedetomidine 0.5 mic/kg

    Drug: Dexmedetomidine

Interventions

  • DrugDexmedetomidine

    Group I will receive 1 ug/kg, group II will receive 0.75 ug/kg and group III will receive 0.5 ug/kg) diluted to 50 ml NaCl 0.9% by syringe pump over 20 minutes before end of surgery.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. serum cortisol level

    serum cortisol level will be measured at 2 hours postoperative

    Time frame: 2 hours postoperative

Secondary outcomes

  1. post anesthetic emergence agitation

    RSAS score will be measured 2 hours postoperative

    Time frame: 2 hours postoperative

  2. visual analogue score

    perfalgan will be given when visual analogue score ≥ 4

    Time frame: 24 hours postoperative

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Assiut university hospital
    Assiut, 71515, Egypt
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jan 4, 2017, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02917018
Lead sponsor
Assiut University
Responsible party
MOHAMED F. MOSTAFA (lecturer of anesthesia and intensive care, faculty of medicine, Assiut university, Assiut University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Sep 28, 2016
Start date
May 2016
Primary completion
Dec 2016
Completion
Dec 2016
Last update
Jan 4, 2017

Study contacts

Hamdy Yossef, MD
study chair · assiut university, faculty of medicine

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Jan 2017. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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