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NCT04648358
REDUCE Trial: Perineural Dexamethasone on Scalp Nerve Blocks
NA trial testing Bupivacaine in Postoperative Pain in 156 participants. Completed in 2 January 2023.
2 January 2023
Quick facts
| Lead sponsor | Beijing Tiantan Hospital |
|---|---|
| Phase | NA |
| Status | Completed |
| Study type | INTERVENTIONAL |
| Allocation | randomized |
| Design | parallel |
| Masking | double |
| Primary purpose | treatment |
| Enrollment | 156 |
| Start date | 13 December 2020 |
| Primary completion | 2 January 2023 |
| Estimated completion | 2 January 2023 |
| Sites | 1 location across China |
Drugs / interventions tested
- Bupivacaine (BUPIVACAINE) — full drug profile →
- Dexamethasone combined with bupivacaine — full drug profile →
Conditions studied
- Postoperative Pain — all drugs for Postoperative Pain →
- Craniotomy — all drugs for Craniotomy →
- Dexamethasone — all drugs for Dexamethasone →
- Scalp Nerve Blocks — all drugs for Scalp Nerve Blocks →
Sponsor
Beijing Tiantan Hospital
Who can join
Adults 18 to 64, any sex, with Postoperative Pain or Craniotomy. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.
Sponsor's own description
Pain is common in the first 2 days after major craniotomy. Inadequate analgesia may lead to an increased risk of postoperative complications. Most pain following craniotomy arises from the pericranial muscles and soft tissues of the scalp. Scalp nerve blocks with local anesthesia seem to provide effective, safe, however transient postoperative analgesia which does not seem to meet the requirements of craniotomy. Currently, peripheral dexamethasone has been observed to significantly prolong the duration of analgesia of nerve blocks (e.g., saphenous nerve block, adductor canal block, thoracic paravertebral block, brachial plexus nerve block). On the contrary, a study reported that perineural dexamethasone did not appear to prolong the analgesic time after supratentorial craniotomy. However, all patients in this study were given 24 mg of oral or intravenous dexamethasone regularly at least 7 days during the perioperative period, which possibly masked the role of single local low doses of perineural dexamethasone. Therefore, the analgesic effect of single dexamethasone for scalp nerve blocks without the backdrop of perioperative glucocorticoid deserves further clarification.
Publications & conference data
2 peer-reviewed publications reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):
-
REDUCE trial: the effects of perineural dexamethasone on scalp nerve blocks for relief of postcraniotomy pain-a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.
Zhao C, Jia Z, Shrestha N, Luo F. · · 2021 · cited 4× · PMID 34736497 · DOI 10.1186/s13063-021-05747-y -
Efficacy of Dexamethasone as an Adjuvant for Scalp Nerve Blocks to Prolong Analgesia: A Prospective, Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Study.
Jia Z, Shrestha N, Wang S, Zhao C, et al · · 2025 · cited 2× · PMID 39840119 · DOI 10.2147/jpr.s497029
Verify or expand the search:
- PubMed search for NCT04648358
- Europe PMC full search
- ASCO Meeting Library
- ESMO Meeting Library
- bioRxiv preprints
- medRxiv preprints
- Google Scholar
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Other recruiting trials for Postoperative Pain
Currently open trials in the same condition.
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Other Beijing Tiantan Hospital trials
Trials by the same sponsor.
- NCT07341854 — Dexamethasone Palmitate for Postoperative Pain · NA · not yet recruiting
- NCT07527013 — Stratified Blood Pressure Management Strategy After Endovascular Treatment for Acute Ischemic Stroke · Phase 3 · not yet recruiting
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Verify against primary sources
- ClinicalTrials.gov — authoritative US registry record
- WHO ICTRP — international registry index
- EU Clinical Trials Register
- Sponsor press releases (Google)
- Trial protocol + status: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04648358 (US National Library of Medicine, public domain)
- Publications: Europe PMC API search by NCT ID, retrieved 10 June 2026
- Drug + disease cross-links: matched in real time against Drug Landscape's normalised drug + company + condition tables
- Sponsor: as reported to ClinicalTrials.gov by Beijing Tiantan Hospital
- Last refreshed: 25 January 2024
Drug Landscape aggregates and links these public records for informational use only. Always verify against the primary source before clinical or regulatory decisions. Canonical URL: https://druglandscape.com/trial/NCT04648358.
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