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Intrathecal Midazolam, Fentanyl and Nalbuphine as Adjuvants to Bupivacaine in Spinal Anesthesia for Cesarean Section

Intrathecal Midazolam is a Comparable Alternative to Fentanyl and Nalbuphine as Adjuvant to Bupivacaine in Spinal Anesthesia for Elective Cesarean Section; a Randomized Controlled Double-blind Trial

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT04932083
Enrollment
100
Registered
2021-06-18
Start date
2021-06-20
Completion date
2022-02-24
Last updated
2022-04-05

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

Conditions

Pain, Acute

Brief summary

The main limitations of spinal anesthesia are its short duration of action and do not provide prolonged postoperative analgesia when it is performed only with local anesthetics. Adding adjuvants drugs to intrathecal local anesthetics improves quality and duration of spinal blockade, and prolongs postoperative analgesia. It is also possible to reduce dose of local anesthetics, as well as total amount of systemic postoperative analgesics.

Detailed description

Several spinal adjuvants have been used to improve spinal anesthesia quality and to prolong postsurgical analgesia; Intrathecal opioids are the most commonly utilized. Intrathecal opioids cause analgesia by binding to opioid receptors in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. They prolong the duration of analgesia and allow early ambulation of patients. Fentanyl, a short-acting lipophilic opioid, is known to augment the quality of subarachnoid block in many studies. However, worrisome adverse effects such as pruritus, urinary retention, post-operative vomiting, and respiratory depression limit the use of opioids. Nalbuphine is a synthetic opioid with mixed agonist antagonist effect. It binds to both mu- and kappa receptors; binding of nalbuphine to mu receptors competitively displaces other mu-agonists from these receptors without any agonist activity, therefore decreasing the side effects on mu agonist (nausea, vomiting, respiratory depression, urinary retention, pruritis, and prolonged sedation). While when binding to kappa receptors, nalbuphine has agonist effect (analgesic effect) through the kappa receptors distributed in the brain and spinal cord. There have been no documented studies of nalbuphine neurotoxicity. Midazolam is a short acting benzodiazepine with anxiolytic, sedative, anticonvulsant and muscle relaxant effects, influencing GABA receptor and influence on neurons by entering chloride into them. It is water soluble in its acid formulation but is highly lipid soluble in vivo. It has been reported to have a spinally mediated anti-nociceptive effect. Previous studies have shown that intrathecal administration of midazolam added to bupivacaine improves the duration and quality of spinal anesthesia. This study is carried out to evaluate and compare the effects of intrathecal midazolam (2 mg), fentanyl (25 micrograms) and nalbuphine (800 micrograms) as additives to intrathecal hyperbaric bupivacaine (0.5 %) with regards to: onset and duration of sensory block, onset and duration of motor block, duration of effective analgesia postoperative, side effects associated with the drug.

Interventions

DRUGBupivacaine

patients will be put in the sitting position and lean forward. After sterilization, Dural puncture will be performed at L4-L5 interspace or L3-L4 with a 25 gauge Quincke spinal needle. patients will receive the local anesthetic dose of 0.5% heavy bupivacaine (12.5 mg) and 0.5 ml of sterile water will be added.

DRUGFentanyl

patients will be put in the sitting position and lean forward. After sterilization, Dural puncture will be performed at L4-L5 interspace or L3-L4 with a 25 gauge Quincke spinal needle. patients will receive the local anesthetic dose of 0.5% heavy bupivacaine (12.5 mg) and 0.5 ml of fentanyl (25µg) will be added.

DRUGNalbuphine

patients will be put in the sitting position and lean forward. After sterilization, Dural puncture will be performed at L4-L5 interspace or L3-L4 with a 25 gauge Quincke spinal needle. patients will receive the local anesthetic dose of 0.5% heavy bupivacaine (12.5 mg) and 0.8 mg nalbuphine hydrochloride in 0.5 ml sterile water will be added.

DRUGMidazolam

patients will be put in the sitting position and lean forward. After sterilization, Dural puncture will be performed at L4-L5 interspace or L3-L4 with a 25 gauge Quincke spinal needle. patients will receive the local anesthetic dose of 0.5% heavy bupivacaine (12.5 mg) and 0.4 ml of midazolam (2mg) + 0.1 ml of sterile water will be added.

Sponsors

Benha University
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
TRIPLE (Subject, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
FEMALE
Age
18 Years to 40 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

1. ASA physical status I and ASA II 2. Age from 18-40 years 3. Scheduled to undergo elective cesarean section under spinal anesthesia.

Exclusion criteria

1. ASA physical status III or IV patients. 2. Patients refuse spinal anesthesia. 3. Patients physically dependent on narcotics or benzodiazepine. 4. Patients with history of drug allergy to one of used adjuvants. 5. Patients with gross spinal abnormality, localized skin sepsis, hemorrhagic diathesis or neurological involvement/ diseases and any contraindication for spine. 6. Patients who are unable to communicate. 7. Morbid obesity. 8. Failure of spinal blockade. 9. Complicated pregnancy.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Duration of effective analgesia24 hours postoperativeit is the time interval from the subarachnoid block to the first analgesic intervention (VAS \>3)

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
The onset of sensory block:2 minutes for ten minutes, every 5 minutes for the next 20 minutes after intrathecal injectionit is the time from end of intrathecal injection to absence of pain at T5 dermatome.
Duration of complete sensory block:12 hours postoperativeit is the time interval from the subarachnoid block to the first sensation of pain (VAS \>0).
Maternal adverse effects24 hours postoperativeAll mothers will be monitored for the associated adverse effects such as postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), sedation, pruritus, hypotension, bradycardia, shivering, and respiratory depression.
Duration of motor block:6 hours postoperativeit is the time per minutes from intrathecal injection until Bromage score 0.
Total dose of analgesic consumption24 hours postoperativeif VAS pain score \>3, intravenous 30 mg keterolac will be administered and can be repeated after 6 h if needed. If the mother was still complaining of pain or the VAS is still greater than 3 after 20 min from ketorolac injection, she will be given intravenous pethidine in a dose of 0.5 mg/kg.
Onset of complete motor blockadeevery 2 minutes for 10 minutes after intrathecal injectionit is the time per minutes from intrathecal injection until Bromage scale to be 3.

Countries

Egypt

Outcome results

None listed

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