ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT05041270Updated May 12, 2023

Epidural Nalbuphine Versus Dexmedetomidine as Adjuvants to Bupivacaine in Lower Limb Surgeries

An interventional study of normal saline and Dexmedetomidine in Lower Limb Surgeries, sponsored by Zagazig University. Completed at 1 site in Egypt. Open to participants aged 21 Years to 60 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-05-12.

Sponsored by Zagazig University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
23
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
21 Years to 60 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Combined spinal epidural anesthesia (CSE) with bupivacaine alone is not sufficient to cover pain sequel during lower limb surgeries.

Previous studies used addition of either Nalbuphine or dexmedetomidine to bupivacaine in epidural anesthesia giving a good result in pain control.

In this study the investigators will evaluate and compare the addition of either Nalbuphine or dexmedetomidine to bupivacaine in epidural anesthesia to evaluate the analgesic efficacy of either drug.

Read the detailed description

Surgical patients need adequate and effective intraoperative anesthesia and postoperative analgesia. Neuroaxial block including lower limb spinal and epidural blocks have a long history of effective anesthesia and lower limb pain relief. Spinal anesthesia is a simple method requiring small dose of local anesthetic agent to give immediate and effective sensory and motor block. But one of its major side effects is hypotension and difficulty in controlling the level of the block [1]. Meanwhile, epidural anesthesia is a safe, well-practiced, not expensive neuroaxial block technique that provides intraoperative anesthesia and postoperative analgesia. So, the combined spinal epidural block (CSE) aims to achieve intense sensory and motor anesthesia and prolong the duration of analgesia intraoperative extending to postoperative period [2].

Neuroaxial anesthesia and analgesia provide perfect analgesic effect by inhibiting nociceptive transmission from peripheral to central neuronal system, but this advantage limited by short half-life of the current local anesthetics. Bupivacaine is a local anesthetic which belongs to amide group of anesthetic agents that has been widely used for local infiltration, peripheral nerve block, spinal and epidural anesthesia and despite relatively long duration of action, still has insufficient time for postoperative analgesia [3].

Several neuroaxial adjuvants such as (opioids, dexamethasone, magnesium sulphate, midazolam and dexmedetomidine) can be added to local anesthetics to prolong its duration of anesthesia and decrease the dose requirement of local anesthetics [4].

Nalbuphine, a derivative of 14-hydroxy morphine is a strong analgesic with mixed kappa agonist and µ antagonist properties. Its potency is equal to morphine, but exhibits a ceiling effect on respiratory depression. It has the potential to maintain and enhance µ-opioid based anesthesia while simultaneously mitigating the µ-opioid side effects [5].

Dexmedetomidine is an imidazole compound. It is a highly selective α-2 adrenergic agonist with an affinity 8 times more specific when compared to clonidine. It has sedative, sympatholytic and analgesic effects that blunt cardiovascular responses both intraoperative and in the perioperative period. Patients remain calm and sedated when undisturbed but arouse readily with stimulation [6]. Dexmedetomidine causes manageable hypotension and bradycardia, but the striking feature of this drug is the lack of opioid-related adverse effects like respiratory depression, pruritis, nausea, and vomiting [7].

02

Conditions studied

  • Lower Limb Surgeries

Keywords

  • Epidural Nalbuphine
  • Epidural Dexmedetomidine
  • combined spinal-epidural anesthesia
  • lower limb surgeries
03

In context

Lead sponsor

Zagazig University is the lead sponsor of 457 studies on the registry; 77 are open to participants now.

Of its 5 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
21 Years to 60 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • patient acceptance.
  • BMI 25-29.9 kg/m2.
  • ASA I and ASA II.
  • Scheduled for elective lower limb orthopedic surgeries under (CSE) block.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patient with known allergy to study drugs,
  • Patients suffering from severe chronic diseases (cardiac, renal, hepatic and neurological or diabetes),
  • Patients with infection at the site of spinal-epidural block,
  • Drug addict patients,
  • Patients on long term steroid therapy,
  • Patients with abnormalities in vertebral spine,
  • Mentally retarded or uncooperative patients,
  • Patients receive anti-coagulant therapy or suspected coagulopathy.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Triple (Participant, Care provider, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
23 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Placebo comparator
    control group

    patient will be given epidural bolus dose of 12ml (10ml 0.25% bupivacaine + 2ml normal saline), top up dose of 8ml will be given postoperative (6ml 0.25% bupivacaine + 2ml normal saline).

    Drug: normal saline

  • Active comparator
    dexmedetomidine group

    patient will be given epidural bolus dose of 12ml (10ml 0.25% bupivacaine + 100µg dexmedetomidine in 2ml volume), top up dose of 8ml will be given postoperative (6ml 0.25% bupivacaine + 20µg dexmedetomidine in 2ml volume)

    Drug: Dexmedetomidine

  • Active comparator
    nalbuphine group

    patient will be given epidural bolus dose of 12ml (10ml 0.25% bupivacaine + 10mg nalbuphine in 2ml volume), top up dose of 8ml will be given postoperative (6ml 0.25% bupivacaine + 2mg nalbuphine in 2ml volume)

    Drug: Nalbuphine

Interventions

  • Drugnormal saline

    Surgery will be started under spinal anesthesia. When sensory block regress to T12 dermatome Epidural bolus dose will be given epidural bolus dose of 12ml (10ml 0.25% bupivacaine + 2ml normal saline) The onset of sensory blockade injected epiduraly with maximal cephalic spread will be assessed by bilateral pinprick method along the midclavicular line, every 5 min for 30 min and then every 30 min. top up dose of 8ml will be given postoperative (6ml 0.25% bupivacaine + 2ml normal saline).

  • Surgery will be started under spinal anesthesia. When sensory block regress to T12 dermatome Epidural bolus dose will be given epidural bolus dose of 12ml (10ml 0.25% bupivacaine + 100µg dexmedetomidine in 2ml volume) The onset of sensory blockade injected epiduraly with maximal cephalic spread will be assessed by bilateral pinprick method along the midclavicular line, every 5 min for 30 min and then every 30 min. top up dose of 8ml will be given postoperative (6ml 0.25% bupivacaine + 20µg dexmedetomidine in 2ml volume).

  • Surgery will be started under spinal anesthesia. When sensory block regress to T12 dermatome Epidural bolus dose will be given epidural bolus dose of 12ml (10ml 0.25% bupivacaine + 10mg nalbuphine in 2ml volume) The onset of sensory blockade injected epiduraly with maximal cephalic spread will be assessed by bilateral pinprick method along the midclavicular line, every 5 min for 30 min and then every 30 min. top up dose of 8ml will be given postoperative (6ml 0.25% bupivacaine + 2mg nalbuphine in 2ml volume).

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Duration of epidural analgesia

    time elapsed from epidural injection of LA until VAS score (≥3)

    Time frame: within 24 hour postoperative

  2. Maximum level of sensory blockade

    the maximum sensory dermatome level after 30 min of administering the local anesthetic in the epidural space

    Time frame: after 30 min of administering the local anesthetic in the epidural space

Secondary outcomes

  1. number of top up doses required

    When sensory block regress to T12 dermatome Epidural bolus dose will be given

    Time frame: within 24 hour postoperative

  2. assessment of changes in patient's level of sedation

    assessment of patient's level of sedation using Ramsey sedation score; where 1=patient is anxious and agitated or restless, or both. 2= Patient is co-operative, oriented, and tranquil. 3= Patient responds to commands only. 4= Patient exhibits brisk response to light glabellar tap or loud auditory stimulus. 5= Patient exhibits a sluggish response to light glabellar tap or loud auditory stimulus. 6= Patient exhibits no response.

    Time frame: Sedation scores will be recorded just before the initiation and 2 hours postoperatively

07

Study locations

1 site
  • faculty of medicine, Zagazig university
    Zagazig, Elsharqya 44519, Egypt
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Shruthi AH, Sudheesh K, Nethra SS, Raghavendra Rao RS, Devika Rani D. THE EFFECT OF A SINGLE DOSE OF MAGNESIUM SULPHATE AS AN ADJUVANT TO EPIDURAL BUPIVACAINE FOR INFRAUMBILICAL SURGERIES: A PROSPECTIVE DOUBLE-BLIND, RANDOMIZED CONTROL TRIAL. Middle East J Anaesthesiol. 2016 Feb;23(4):449-55. PubMed 27382815 ↗
  • Chatrath V, Attri JP, Bala A, Khetarpal R, Ahuja D, Kaur S. Epidural nalbuphine for postoperative analgesia in orthopedic surgery. Anesth Essays Res. 2015 Sep-Dec;9(3):326-30. doi: 10.4103/0259-1162.158004. PubMed 26712968 ↗
  • Gupta K, Rastogi B, Gupta PK, Singh I, Bansal M, Tyagi V. Intrathecal nalbuphine versus intrathecal fentanyl as adjuvant to 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine for orthopedic surgery of lower limbs under subarachnoid block: A comparative evaluation. Indian J Pain. 2016; 30:90-5.
  • Chiruvella S, Donthu B, Nallam SR, Salla DB. Postoperative Analgesia with Epidural Dexmedetomidine Compared with Clonidine following Total Abdominal Hysterectomies: A Prospective Double-blind Randomized Trial. Anesth Essays Res. 2018 Jan-Mar;12(1):103-108. doi: 10.4103/aer.AER_207_17. PubMed 29628563 ↗
  • Soliman AAM, Melika ASM. Epidural bupivacaine and dexmedetomidine versus bupivacaine and opioids for lower vascular surgery. J Med Sci Res. 2018; 1:158-63.
  • Paul A, Nathroy A, Paul T. A comparative study of dexmedetomidine and fentanyl as an adjuvant to epidural bupivacaine in lower limb surgeries. J Med Sci. 2017; 37:221-6.
  • Farmawy MSE, Mowafy SMS, Wahdan RA. Epidural nalbuphine versus dexmedetomidine as adjuvants to bupivacaine in lower limb orthopedic surgeries for postoperative analgesia: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Anesthesiol. 2023 Dec 6;23(1):401. doi: 10.1186/s12871-023-02348-x. PubMed 38057695 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — planned after the completion of the study and publication

Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan, Informed consent form, Analytic code

Time frame: planned after the completion of the study and publication

Access criteria: principal investigator

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on May 12, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05041270
Lead sponsor
Zagazig University
Responsible party
Rehab Abd-Allah Wahdan (lecturer of anesthesia and surgical intensive care, Zagazig University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Sep 13, 2021
Start date
Oct 1, 2021
Primary completion
Apr 30, 2022
Completion
May 15, 2022
Last update
May 12, 2023

Study contacts

Howaida A Kamal, MD
study director · Faculty of medicine, zagazig university, Zagazig, Elsharqya, Egypt, 44519

Oversight

FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in May 2023. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Studies of the drugs tested here: Dexmedetomidine · Nalbuphine

Start the discussion