Conditions: Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Regional Anesthesia, Saphenous Nerve Block
Keywords: Dexamethasone Glucocorticoids Physiological Effects of Drugs Therapeutic Uses Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Regional Anesthesia, nerve block Ultrasonic Imaging Post-Operative Complications: muscle weakness, pain, nausea and vomiting Dexamethasone (as local anesthetic additive)
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 195
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
For patients undergoing Anterior Cruciate Ligament reconstruction surgery, the postoperative period can be a painful experience without adequate pain management. Hence the investigators propose a randomized controlled clinical study, investigating prolonged saphenous nerve blocks. Patients will be randomized to receive saphenous nerve blocks with or without dexamethasone, a corticosteroid used to prolong analgesia.

Depending on the randomized treatment assignment, patients may receive one of the following:

1. 13 ml of 0.5% bupivacaine, a local anesthetic (no dexamethasone);
2. 13 ml of 0.5% bupivacaine mixed with 1 mg of dexamethasone;
3. 13 ml of 0.5% bupivacaine mixed with 4 mg of dexamethasone.

Patients will be followed postoperatively. Following admission to the recovery room, data collectors will ask patients to rate their pain on a scale of 0-10 until discharge. Data collectors will also record patient satisfaction, pain medication use and any side effects experienced (i.e. nausea and vomiting). Patients will then be contacted on postoperative days 1, 2 and 14 and asked questions about their general well-being.

Detailed description:

Arms:
arm 1: None arm 2: None arm 3: None

Interventions: intervention 1: Bupivacaine Only intervention 2: Bupivacaine with 1 mg of Dexamethasone intervention 3: Bupivacaine with 4 mg of Dexamethasone
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: This is the control treatment arm. Patients will receive an ultrasound-guided saphenous nerve block, consisting of 13 ml of 0.5% bupivacaine (a local anesthetic). intervention 2: This is one of two treatment arms. Patients will receive an ultrasound-guided saphenous nerve block, consisting of 13 ml of 0.5% bupivacaine (a local anesthetic), mixed with 1 mg of dexamethasone. Total injection volume will be 15 ml. intervention 3: This is one of two treatment arms. Patients will receive an ultrasound-guided saphenous nerve block, consisting of 13 ml of 0.5% bupivacaine (a local anesthetic), mixed with 4 mg of dexamethasone. Total injection volume will be 15 ml.

Protocol document: