Duration of upper and lower extremity peripheral nerve blockade is prolonged with dexamethasone when added to ropivacaine: a retrospective database analysis.

Background: Dexamethasone, when added to local anesthetics, has been shown to prolong the duration of peripheral nerve blocks; however, there are limited studies utilizing large numbers of patients. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of adding dexamethasone to ropivacaine on duration of nerve blocks of the upper and lower extremity.

Methods: We reviewed 1,040 patient records collected in an orthopedic outpatient surgery center that had received an upper or lower extremity peripheral nerve block with ropivacaine 0.