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CompletedNCT04051723Updated Jul 21, 2020

Pre-emptive Scalp Infiltration With Dexamethasone Plus Ropivacaine for Post-Craniotomy Pain in Children

A Phase 4 interventional study of The dexamethasone plus ropivacaine and The ropivacaine in Pain, Postoperative and Children, sponsored by Beijing Tiantan Hospital. Completed at 2 sites in China. Open to participants aged 2 Years to 12 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2020-07-21.

Sponsored by Beijing Tiantan Hospital · Phase 4, Interventional, and Prevention

Phase
Phase 4
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
80
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
2 Years to 12 Years
Sex
All
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Study summary

At present, pediatric postoperative analgesia has not been fully understood and controlled, particularly craniotomy surgery. On the one hand, professional evaluation of postoperative pain for young children is difficult; on the other hand, the particularity of craniotomy adds (such as consciousness obstacle, sleepiness, et al) disturbance to the pain assessment in children. Although opioids administration is regarded as the first-line analgesic for post-craniotomy pain management, it may be associated with delayed awakening, respiratory depression, hypercarbia and it may interfere with the neurologic examination. For the avoidance of side-effects of systemic opioids, local anesthetics administered around the incision have been performed clinically. However, some studies revealed that the analgesic effect of local anesthetics was unsatisfactory due to its short pain relief duration, steroid as adjuvant can enhance postoperative analgesia and prolong postoperative analgesia time. As is reported that postoperative pain of craniotomy is mainly caused by skin incision and reflection of muscles, preventing the liberation of inflammatory mediators around the incision seems to be more effective than simply blocking nerve conduction. Researchers have clarified that the addition of dexamethasone to local infiltration of analgesia could provide significant analgesic effects and significantly prolong the duration of analgesic effects without obvious complications for various types of surgeries. To date, no studies have evaluated the addition of dexamethasone to local infiltration for patients receiving craniotomy. Thus, investigators suppose that pre-emptive scalp infiltration with steroid (Dexamethasone) plus local anesthetic (ropivacaine) could relieve postoperative pain after craniotomy in children.

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Conditions studied

  • Pain, Postoperative
  • Children

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In context

Pain, Postoperative

5,093 studies on the registry are indexed under Pain, Postoperative; 1,140 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 80 is close to the median of 75 across 4,344 interventional studies indexed under Pain, Postoperative.

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Lead sponsor

Beijing Tiantan Hospital is the lead sponsor of 465 studies on the registry; 282 are open to participants now.

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

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
2 Years to 12 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • An elective craniotomy under general anesthesia;
  • American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status of I or II;
  • Participates with an anticipated fully recovery within 2 hours postoperatively;
  • Informed consent by parent(s) and/or legal guardian.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • History of allergies to any of the study drugs;
  • Drugs with confirmed or suspected sedative or analgesic effects; receiving any painkiller within 24 h before surgery; children who received steroids;
  • Psychiatric disorders;
  • Uncontrolled epilepsy;
  • Chronic headache;
  • Peri-incisional infection;
  • Body mass index exceeded the 99th percentile for age;
  • Children who must use a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) device;
  • Children who cannot understand an instruction of pain scales before surgery.
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Study design

Phase
Phase 4
Primary purpose
Prevention
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
80 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    The dexamethasone plus ropivacaine group

    Patients in the dexamethasone plus ropivacaine group will receive a peri-incisional scalp infiltration with 0.025% dexamethasone and 0.2% ropivacaine and normal saline miscible liquids.

    Drug: The dexamethasone plus ropivacaine

  • Active comparator
    The ropivacaine group

    Patients in the ropivacaine group will receive a peri-incisional scalp infiltration with 0.2% ropivacaine and normal saline miscible liquids.

    Drug: The ropivacaine

Interventions

  • DrugThe dexamethasone plus ropivacaine

    The local infiltration solution containing 0.25mg Dexamethasone and 2mg ropivacaine per milliliter. The total volume is 20 ml. The assigned solution will be injected subcutaneously by surgeons along the incision and throughout the entire thickness of the scalp before skin incision. The volume of local infiltration solution will be decided by surgeons according to the cut length, and the capacity of the solution will be recorded by investigators.

  • DrugThe ropivacaine

    The local infiltration solution containing 2mg ropivacaine per milliliter. The total volume is 20 ml. The assigned solution will be injected subcutaneously by surgeons along the incision and throughout the entire thickness of the scalp before skin incision. The volume of local infiltration solution will be decided by surgeons according to the cut length, and the capacity of the solution will be recorded by investigators.

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What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. modified Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Pain Scale (mCHEOPS)

    Postoperative pain will be estimated by using the modified Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Pain Scale (mCHEOPS). 0 indicates no pain, 10 indicates the most severe pain imaginable.

    Time frame: At 24 hours after the operation

Secondary outcomes

  1. modified Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Pain Scale (mCHEOPS)

    Postoperative pain will be estimated by using the modified Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Pain Scale (mCHEOPS). 0 indicates no pain, 10 indicates the most severe pain imaginable.

    Time frame: At 2 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours, 1 week, 2 weeks after surgery

  2. The time to the first rescue analgesic

    Rescue analgesics will be administered if the patient exhibits signs of sympathetic stimulation in the form of undue tachycardia, a rise in mean arterial pressure (rise of \>20% from the baseline), and mCHEOPS score above 5 (range 1 to 10) or if the children are in obvious pain and distress at any time point during a subjective assessment by the intensivist or parents.

    Time frame: Within 48 hours after the operation

  3. Patient satisfactory scale (PSS)

    0 for unsatisfactory, and 10 for very satisfied

    Time frame: At 2 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours, 1 week, 2 weeks after surgery

  4. length of stay (LOS)

    LOS will be recorded as the number of nights spent in hospital after surgery.

    Time frame: Approximately 2 weeks after the operation

  5. The occurrence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV)

    PONV will be rated by participants as: 0, absent; 1, nausea not requiring treatment; 2, nausea requiring treatment; and 3, vomiting.

    Time frame: At 2 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours, 24 hours after surgery

  6. Ramsay Sedation Scale (RSS)

    1: Anxious, agitated, restless; Ramsey 2: Cooperative, oriented, tranquil; Ramsey 3: Responsive to commands only If Asleep; Ramsey 4: Brisk response to light glabellar tap or loud auditory stimulus; Ramsey 5: Sluggish response to light glabellar tap or loud auditory stimulus; Ramsey 6: No response to light glabellar tap or loud auditory stimulus.

    Time frame: At 2 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours, 24 hours after surgery

  7. The occurrence of respiratory depression

    Respiratory depression is defined as persistent (more than 1 minutes) oxygen desaturation 90 percent or respiratory rate less than 8 breaths per minute, or oxygen desaturation less than 94 percent along with respiratory rate less than 10 breaths per minute requiring supplemental oxygen to maintain oxygen saturation more than 94 percent in the absence of clinically obvious upper airway obstruction.

    Time frame: Within 48 hours after the operation

  8. Heart rate

    Time frame: During the operation and at 2 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours, 24 hours after surgery

  9. Mean arterial pressure

    Time frame: During the operation and at 2 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours, 24 hours after surgery

  10. The total consumption of opioids during the operation

    Time frame: During procedure

  11. The total consumption of anaesthetic during the operation

    Time frame: During procedure

  12. Wound Healing Score

    Skin Healing 1: fully healed; 2: ≤3 cm in total not healed; 3: \>3 cm not healed; 4: areas of necrosis ≤3 cm; 5: areas of necrosis \>3 cm Infection 1: none; 2: ≤0.5-cm margin of redness; 3: more redness or superficial pus; 4: deep infection; not applicable Hair Regrowth 1: even regrowth along wound; 2: ≤3 cm not regrowing; 3: \>3-6 cm not regrowing; 4: \>6 cm not regrowing; not applicable

    Time frame: At 1 month after surgery

  13. Incisional related adverse events

    Incisional related adverse events Including delayed incisional healing, incisional infection, intracranial infection, scar healing.

    Time frame: Approximately 2 weeks after the operation

  14. The occurrence of the Adverse events (AEs) and serious adverse events (SAEs)

    An AE was defined as any untoward medical occurrence. An SAE included death, immediately life-threatening conditions, coma, in-patient hospitalisation or prolongation of existing hospitalisation.

    Time frame: Within 2 weeks after the operation

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Study locations

2 sites
  • Beijing Tiantan Hospital
    Beijing, Beijing 100050, China
  • Beijing children's hospital affiliated to capital medical university
    Beijing, Beijing, China
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References and documents

Publications

  • Bronco A, Pietrini D, Lamperti M, Somaini M, Tosi F, del Lungo LM, Zeimantz E, Tumolo M, Lampugnani E, Astuto M, Perna F, Zadra N, Meneghini L, Benucci V, Bussolin L, Scolari A, Savioli A, Locatelli BG, Prussiani V, Cazzaniga M, Mazzoleni F, Giussani C, Rota M, Ferland CE, Ingelmo PM. Incidence of pain after craniotomy in children. Paediatr Anaesth. 2014 Jul;24(7):781-7. doi: 10.1111/pan.12351. Epub 2014 Jan 28. PubMed 24467608 ↗
  • Basali A, Mascha EJ, Kalfas I, Schubert A. Relation between perioperative hypertension and intracranial hemorrhage after craniotomy. Anesthesiology. 2000 Jul;93(1):48-54. doi: 10.1097/00000542-200007000-00012. PubMed 10861145 ↗
  • Law-Koune JD, Szekely B, Fermanian C, Peuch C, Liu N, Fischler M. Scalp infiltration with bupivacaine plus epinephrine or plain ropivacaine reduces postoperative pain after supratentorial craniotomy. J Neurosurg Anesthesiol. 2005 Jul;17(3):139-43. doi: 10.1097/01.ana.0000171730.41008.da. PubMed 16037734 ↗
  • Ikeuchi M, Kamimoto Y, Izumi M, Fukunaga K, Aso K, Sugimura N, Yokoyama M, Tani T. Effects of dexamethasone on local infiltration analgesia in total knee arthroplasty: a randomized controlled trial. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 2014 Jul;22(7):1638-43. doi: 10.1007/s00167-013-2367-5. Epub 2013 Jan 11. PubMed 23306715 ↗
  • Ju NY, Cui GX, Gao W. Ropivacaine plus dexamethasone infiltration reduces postoperative pain after tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2013 Nov;77(11):1881-5. doi: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2013.08.037. Epub 2013 Sep 8. PubMed 24060088 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes

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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 21, 2020, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04051723
Lead sponsor
Beijing Tiantan Hospital
Collaborators
Beijing Children's Hospital
Responsible party
Fang Luo (Director of Department of Pain Management, Beijing Tiantan Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
Aug 9, 2019
Start date
Sep 2, 2019
Primary completion
Jun 5, 2020
Completion
Jul 5, 2020
Last update
Jul 21, 2020

Study contacts

Fang Luo, M.D.
principal investigator · Beijing Tiantan Hospital
Ming Ge, M.D.
principal investigator · Beijing Children' Hospital, Capital Medical University

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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