Efficacy of perineural dexamethasone with ropivacaine in thoracic paravertebral block for postoperative analgesia in elective thoracotomy: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Yu Mao,1,2,* Youmei Zuo,2,* Bin Mei,2 Lijian Chen,2 Xuesheng Liu,2 Zhi Zhang,1 Erwei Gu2 1Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease of Chinese Academy of Science, Department of Biophysics and Neurobiology, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei City, Anhui 230027, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Anaesthesiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei City, Anhui 230031, People’s Republic of China *These authors equally contributed to this work Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of perineural dexamethasone with ropivacaine in multimodal analgesia for thoracic paravertebral block (TPVB) in patients undergoing elective thoracotomy. Patients and methods: Ninety-six patients undergoing thoracotomy were enrolled in this trial and randomized to adjuvant therapy for TPVB: group S (saline), group R (0.5% ropivacaine), or group RD (5 mg dexamethasone and 0.5% ropivacaine). Postoperative analgesia, recovery duration, and chronic pain were recorded. Results: Groups R and RD spent less time in the postanaesthesia care unit, had earlier out-of-bed activity, and had shorter postoperative hospital stays compared with group S. The RD group regained consciousness faster and had lower acute pain scores and used less patient-controlled analgesia during the first 72 h after surgery compared with group S. Postthoracotomy pain was decreased in group RD (19.0%) compared with group S (47.6%) 3 months postoperatively, p = 0.050. Conclusion: Perineural dexamethasone with ropivacaine for TPVB improves postoperative analgesia quality, reduces recovery time, and may decrease the incidence of chronic pain after thoracotomy with an opioid-based anesthetic regimen. Keywords: chronic pain, dexamethasone, nerve block, thoracotomy