An interventional study of Dexamethasone and Saline (0.9% NaCl) in Hoarseness and Post Operative Complicaiton, sponsored by Fujian Medical University Union Hospital. Recruiting at 4 sites in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 75 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-23.
Sponsored by Fujian Medical University Union Hospital · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate whether intraoperative spraying of dexamethasone onto the abdominal vagal nerve-rich areas can prevent postoperative hoarseness in patients undergoing elective upper abdominal surgery. The main questions it aims to answer are:
Participants will:
The mechanism of postoperative hoarseness remains unclear. It is traditionally attributed to direct injury to the recurrent laryngeal nerve or to endotracheal intubation. However, the surgical field in upper abdominal procedures is remote from the recurrent laryngeal nerve, yet the incidence of hoarseness is higher than in many other surgeries. Preclinical animal experiments by the research group have demonstrated that electrical or thermal stimulation of the subdiaphragmatic vagal nerve can induce vocal cord paralysis, and that immediate topical spraying of dexamethasone onto the affected area significantly reduces this effect. It is hypothesized that thermal injury to vagal nerve fibers in the upper abdomen triggers aberrant signaling through the solitary nucleus to the nucleus ambiguus, ultimately resulting in dysfunction of the recurrent laryngeal nerve.
This trial is designed as a multi-center, prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. A total of 584 adult patients scheduled for elective gastric, hepatobiliary, or pancreaticoduodenal surgery will be enrolled. At the end of the main surgical procedure and before abdominal closure, the surgeon will spray 10 mg of dexamethasone onto the vagal nerve-rich areas, such as the peritoneum around the esophageal hiatus, the lesser omental sac, and the surface of the hepatoduodenal ligament.
Voice assessments will be conducted daily from postoperative day 1 through day 10 using the GRBAS scale by a trained evaluator blinded to group assignment. Patients will also undergo voice acoustic recording for Praat analysis. Those in the placebo group who develop hoarseness will be re-randomized to receive either intravenous dexamethasone 5 mg or placebo daily for 3 days.
52 studies on the registry are indexed under Hoarseness; 9 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 584 is above the median of 108 across 44 interventional studies indexed under Hoarseness.
Browse Hoarseness studies →Fujian Medical University Union Hospital is the lead sponsor of 109 studies on the registry; 79 are open to participants now.
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Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
The anaesthetists’ scale of health before surgery: I is healthy, II has a mild illness that is under control, III a severe one, IV a severe illness that is a constant threat to life. V and VI are used for the critically ill and for organ donors.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
ASA physical status
The anaesthetists’ scale of health before surgery: I is healthy, II has a mild illness that is under control, III a severe one, IV a severe illness that is a constant threat to life. V and VI are used for the critically ill and for organ donors.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Corticosteroids (steroids)
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
At the end of surgery before abdominal closure, 10 mg dexamethasone diluted in 10 mL normal saline is sprayed onto the vagal nerve-rich areas: peritoneum around the esophageal hiatus, lesser omental sac, and surface of the hepatoduodenal ligament. Voice assessed daily (GRBAS scale + Praat recording) from postoperative day 1-10.
Drug: Dexamethasone
At the end of surgery before abdominal closure, 10 mL normal saline alone is sprayed onto the same vagal nerve-rich areas. Voice assessed daily (GRBAS scale + Praat recording) from postoperative day 1-10. Patients who develop hoarseness (GRBAS Grade ≥2) are re-randomized to receive intravenous dexamethasone 5 mg or placebo daily for 3 days.
Drug: Saline (0.9% NaCl)
Dexamethasone 10 mg diluted in 10 mL normal saline, sprayed topically onto the vagal nerve-rich areas (esophageal hiatus, lesser omental sac, hepatoduodenal ligament) once at the end of surgery before abdominal closure.
10 mL normal saline sprayed topically onto the same vagal nerve-rich areas once at the end of surgery before abdominal closure. Patients in the placebo group who develop hoarseness (GRBAS Grade ≥ 2) will be re-randomized to receive intravenous dexamethasone 5 mg daily or placebo for 3 days.
Incidence of postoperative hoarseness within 10 days
The proportion of patients with a GRBAS (Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain) Grade (G) score ≥ 2 at any time point from postoperative day 1 to day 10.
Time frame: Postoperative day 1 to day 10.
Time to recovery from hoarseness
Time frame: From first diagnosis of hoarseness (GRBAS G ≥2) to recovery of voice (GRBAS G <2), assessed up to postoperative day 10.
Change in objective voice acoustic parameters measured by Praat software
Voice samples are recorded using the same professional recording device with the participant producing a sustained vowel /a:/ for at least 5 seconds (sampling rate 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz, mono, WAV format). The recorded samples are analyzed using Praat software (University of Amsterdam) to extract the following parameters: Jitter (local, %), Fundamental Frequency (F0, Hz), and Harmonics-to-Noise Ratio (HNR, dB). The change in each parameter from baseline will be reported for each group.
Time frame: Postoperative day 1 to day 10.
Change in Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, and Strain (GRBAS) scale subscores over time
The GRBAS (Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain) scale is a perceptual voice assessment tool. For this study, only the Grade (G) subscore is measured. The G subscore assesses overall hoarseness severity on a 0-3 scale (0=normal, 1=mild, 2=moderate, 3=severe), with higher scores indicating worse voice quality. The G subscore is assessed daily from postoperative day 1 through day 10 and compared between groups to evaluate the trajectory of voice changes. The other four dimensions (R, B, A, S) are not formally scored in this study.
Time frame: Postoperative day 1 to day 10.
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Started Jul 2026 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Jan 2027, 6 months after the start.
Of 21 interventional studies with no phase under Hoarseness, half reached primary completion within 15 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 9 and three quarters within 24. This study's planned 6 months is below that.
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Studies of the drug tested here: Dexamethasone
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