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Dexamethasone Administration To Improve Patient Recovery In Ambulatory Vaginal Prolapse Surgery: Is There A Role?

Dexamethasone Administration To Improve Patient Recovery In Ambulatory Vaginal Reconstructive Surgery: Is There A Role?

Status
Completed
Phases
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT03338400
Enrollment
51
Registered
2017-11-09
Start date
2017-05-01
Completion date
2018-08-21
Last updated
2021-04-14

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Nausea and Vomiting, Postoperative, Quality of Recovery, Same Day Surgery, Vaginal Prolapse

Keywords

Quality of Recovery, Dexamethasone, Same day surgery

Brief summary

To the investigators knowledge there are no studies in the literature evaluating the effect of Dexamethasone administration on patients undergoing outpatient vaginal prolapse surgeries.

Detailed description

The lifetime risk of undergoing surgical intervention for pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is estimated to be 10% and it is projected that from 2010 to 2050, the number of surgeries for POP will rise by 47.2%, from 166,000 to 245,970. In 1980, accounting for the rising costs of health care, congress approved Medicare to reimburse procedures performed at outpatient and ambulatory surgery centers. This led to an increasing number of stress incontinence (SUI) procedures being performed in the ambulatory setting from 34,968 in 1996 to 105,656 in 2006. However, the number of ambulatory POP surgeries decreased in the same time period. This was possibly due to the increase in the mean age of women undergoing ambulatory procedures for POP and SUI during that time periods. At the investigator's institution has performed outpatient surgeries for POP and SUI for the past 3 years. Patients have tolerated same day surgery with minimal complications. In the investigator's previous prospective study assessing satisfaction after outpatient surgeries for POP and SUI, patients had a decreased quality of recovery at 48 hours compared to baseline. The investigators also recognized that nausea and pain control could have been better addressed. Unpleasant postoperative nausea and vomiting, pain control, return to normal voiding and return of bowel function can influence the quality of recovery (QOR) from surgery. Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) and pain management are particularly troubling for the patients. This might also delay discharge and prolong convalescence from the surgery. Several safe interventions have been assessed in the literature for alleviating PONV, pain and recovery from laparoscopic gynecologic surgery. Dexamethasone is a potent corticosteroid that has been widely used for chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting. The mechanism of action is not completely understood. It has been proposed that a single dose may hamper the production and release of anti-inflammatory mediators, thereby decreasing postoperative nausea, emesis, pain perception and Dexamethasone also has a central antiemetic effect by inhibition of prostaglandin and/or release of endogenous opioids. A recent metanalysis concluded that Dexamethasone administration at induction is safe. Pauls et al in their recent study randomized patients undergoing vaginal prolapse surgery to receive Dexamethasone and noted a decrease in PONV and reduced requirement of a rescue antiemetic. Their model involved patients with overnight stay and the results may not be applicable to our population. They also noted that women who received Dexamethasone preoperatively were more likely to pass the voiding trial.

Interventions

DRUGDexamethasone

Patients will be randomized to Dexamethasone arm will receive 8mg (2ml) of Dexamethasone at the time of induction.

DRUGNormal saline

Patients randomized to normal saline will receive 2ml of Normal saline at the time of induction.

Sponsors

The Cleveland Clinic
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
FEMALE
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

1. Women over the age of 18 2. Women scheduled for vaginal POP reconstructive surgery with or without concomitant anti-incontinence procedure and with or without hysterectomy 3. ASA class 1-2

Exclusion criteria

1. Daily use of steroids, antiemetics in the month prior to surgery 2. Chronic pain requiring daily opioid treatment 3. History of allergy/intolerance to Dexamethasone 4. ASA class 3 5. Numerical Pain score of more than 4 at baseline 6. Renal/Liver disease 7. Diabetes mellitus 8. Pregnancy 9. Inability to answer questionnaires 10. Any systemic infections 11. Immuno compromised status 12. Patients with planned overnight stay

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Questionnaire: Quality of Recovery 4024 hoursThe primary aim is to evaluate whether standard administration of Dexamethasone at the time of anesthesia induction in patients undergoing vaginal reconstructive surgery would result in improved Quality of Recovery. The QoR-40 has 40 items that consider early postoperative health status of patients. These items cover five dimensions including emotional state (9 items), physical comfort (12 items), patient support (7 items), physical independence (5 items) and pain (7 items). All items are rated on a five-point Likert scale from one (worst) to five (best). All negative items were reversed to ease the interpretation. The total score (global score) was computed by summing all items. The minimum and maximum possible scores were 40 and 200, respectively.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Urinary Tract Infectionsuntil 6 weeksNumber of UTIs diagnosed in each group
Readmissions6 weeksAny patient that is re-admitted to the hospital and the reason for re-admission will be collected.
Pain Level24 hoursnumerical pain scale ranges from 0 to 10, where lower scores represent less pain.
Nausea, Vomiting24 hrsClinically important nausea \>50

Countries

United States

Participant flow

Participants by arm

ArmCount
Dexamethasone
Patients in the Dexamethasone arm will be administered the drug at the time of induction. Dexamethasone: Patients will be randomized to Dexamethasone arm will receive 8mg (2ml) of Dexamethasone at the time of induction.
24
Normal Saline
The placebo arm patients will receive normal saline at the time of induction. Normal saline: Patients randomized to normal saline will receive 2ml of Normal saline at the time of induction.
24
Total48

Withdrawals & dropouts

PeriodReasonFG000FG001
Overall StudyLost to Follow-up12

Baseline characteristics

CharacteristicDexamethasoneNormal SalineTotal
Age, Categorical
<=18 years
0 Participants0 Participants0 Participants
Age, Categorical
>=65 years
13 Participants16 Participants29 Participants
Age, Categorical
Between 18 and 65 years
11 Participants8 Participants19 Participants
Age, Continuous66 years65 years65 years
Body Mass Index26 kg/m228 kg/m227 kg/m2
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Hispanic or Latino
3 Participants2 Participants5 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Not Hispanic or Latino
20 Participants22 Participants42 Participants
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Unknown or Not Reported
1 Participants0 Participants1 Participants
Region of Enrollment
United States
24 participants24 participants48 participants
Sex: Female, Male
Female
24 Participants24 Participants48 Participants
Sex: Female, Male
Male
0 Participants0 Participants0 Participants

Adverse events

Event typeEG000
affected / at risk
EG001
affected / at risk
deaths
Total, all-cause mortality
0 / 240 / 24
other
Total, other adverse events
0 / 240 / 24
serious
Total, serious adverse events
0 / 240 / 24

Outcome results

Primary

Questionnaire: Quality of Recovery 40

The primary aim is to evaluate whether standard administration of Dexamethasone at the time of anesthesia induction in patients undergoing vaginal reconstructive surgery would result in improved Quality of Recovery. The QoR-40 has 40 items that consider early postoperative health status of patients. These items cover five dimensions including emotional state (9 items), physical comfort (12 items), patient support (7 items), physical independence (5 items) and pain (7 items). All items are rated on a five-point Likert scale from one (worst) to five (best). All negative items were reversed to ease the interpretation. The total score (global score) was computed by summing all items. The minimum and maximum possible scores were 40 and 200, respectively.

Time frame: 24 hours

ArmMeasureValue (MEAN)Dispersion
DexamethasoneQuestionnaire: Quality of Recovery 40174 score on a scaleStandard Deviation 14.49
Normal SalineQuestionnaire: Quality of Recovery 40167 score on a scaleStandard Deviation 16.02
Secondary

Nausea, Vomiting

Clinically important nausea \>50

Time frame: 24 hrs

Population: patients with \>50 on nausea scale

ArmMeasureValue (NUMBER)
DexamethasoneNausea, Vomiting2 participants
Normal SalineNausea, Vomiting2 participants
Secondary

Pain Level

numerical pain scale ranges from 0 to 10, where lower scores represent less pain.

Time frame: 24 hours

Population: Pain score from 0-10

ArmMeasureValue (MEAN)Dispersion
DexamethasonePain Level6.04 score on a scaleStandard Deviation 2.8
Normal SalinePain Level4.77 score on a scaleStandard Deviation 2.59
Secondary

Readmissions

Any patient that is re-admitted to the hospital and the reason for re-admission will be collected.

Time frame: 6 weeks

Population: Number or ER visits post-op

ArmMeasureValue (NUMBER)
DexamethasoneReadmissions4 participants
Normal SalineReadmissions1 participants
Secondary

Urinary Tract Infections

Number of UTIs diagnosed in each group

Time frame: until 6 weeks

ArmMeasureValue (NUMBER)
DexamethasoneUrinary Tract Infections1 participants
Normal SalineUrinary Tract Infections2 participants

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026