Clinical trials

Urethroplasty is considered as a gold standard in treatment of urethral stricture disease having success rate of more than 93% in terms of recurrence of stricture. The objective of the study is to compare the outcome between excision and primary anastomosis (EPA) urethroplasty, a transecting urethroplasty technique and Tunica Vaginalis Graft (TVG) Urethroplasty, a non-transecting urethroplasty technique, in patients with bulbar urethral stricture upto 2cm in length. It will be a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) in which 94 patients admitted in Sahiwal Teaching Hospital, Sahiwal will be included. The patients will be divided into two equal groups. Randomization will be performed using a computer-generated random sequence. The Group-A patients will undergo excision and primary anastomosis (EPA) urethroplasty while Group-B patients will undergo Tunica Vaginalis Graft (TVG) Urethroplasty. Non-probability convenience sampling will be carried out. Detailed history of urinary symptoms, Sexual function, catheterization, instrumentation, urinary tract infection and trauma will be taken to obtain the cause of stricture. Demographic information like name, age, and contact number will be recorded. Investigations will include preoperative complete blood count, renal function test, liver function test, urine complete examination, ultrasonogram kidney, ureter and bladder with post void residual volume (PVR) uroflowmetry and retrograde urethrogram for diagnosis and length of stricture. Other parameters of study will be length of hospital stay, postoperative complication such as graft failure, wound infection, urinary tract infection and fistula formation. Data will be collected through proforma, which will be entered and analyzed using statistical package for social sciences version 26.0. For quantitative variables mean and standard deviation will be calculated and for qualitative variables frequency and percentages will be calculated. Data will be presented in tables and graphs for both quantitative and qualitative variables. Chi-square test will be used to estimate the association between qualitative variables. An Independent sample t-test will be applied for quantitative variables. P-value \<0.05 will be considered significant. It is anticipated that the Tunica Vaginalis Graft (TVG) Urethroplasty provides better outcome as compared to excision and primary anastomosis (EPA) urethroplasty.

Transversus abdominis plane block is a regional anesthetic technique which blocks the abdominal neural afferents by introducing local anesthetic into the neuro-fascial plane between the internal oblique and the transversus abdominis muscle and gives analgesia from the skin to parietal peritoneum. There are studies showing evidence of improved post operative analgesia with addition of adjuvants such as dexmedetomidine or dexamethasone in comparison with plane local anesthesia in terms of time to rescue analgesia and the overall quantity of analgesic used post operatively.

Severe pain associated with thigh and knee fractures makes the positioning for regional anesthesia a challenge. Different modalities to make patient pain free for spinal positioning, post op analgesia and patient satisfaction including supra-inguinal fascia iliaca block (S-FIB) and infra-inguinal fascia iliaca blocks (I-FIB) have been studies. The aim of this study is to compare two blocks in patients undergoing thigh and knee surgeries. A randomized controlled trial study design will be used and 60 patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria will be included. The patients will be divided into 2 groups by simple random sampling. Group A (S-FIB) (n = 30, those who will receive 30 ml of 0.125% bupivacaine) and Group B (I-FIB) (n = 30, those who will receive 30 ml of 0.125% bupivacaine). Depending on the allotted group, patients will be given the block under the guidance of ultrasound in the preoperative area. After block patients will be assessed for ease of spinal positioning using EOSP Scale, postoperative duration of analgesia and patient satisfaction using Likert Scale and data will be recorded on prescribed proforma. All the findings will be noted in a specially designed proforma by the researcher. All the data collected will be entered and analyzed. Quantitative variables will be presented with mean ± SD. Independent sample t-test for duration of postoperative analgesia. Qualitative variables such as ease of spinal positioning and gender will be presented with Chi-Square. A p-value equal to or less than 0.05 will be considered significant.

To compare the efficacy of dexmedetomidine and dexamethasone as an adjuvant to 0.5%ropivacaine on onset of ultrasound guided supraclavicular brachial plexus block in patients undergoing upper limb surgeries. Ropivacaine hydrochloride, a long acting local anesthetic, is commonly used for supraclavicular block owing to its favorable safety profile especially in terms of minimal cardiotoxicity and less motor block. Dexmedetomidine, a highly selective alpha-2 adrenergic agonist, enhances the quality of supraclavicular block by providing sedation and analgesia while potentially prolonging the duration of block through hyperpolarization of nerve fibers. While, Dexamethasone, a synthetic corticosteroid with potent anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive properties, prolongs duration of analgesia by reducing perineural inflammation and inhibiting nociceptive signal transmission. Supraclavicular brachial plexus block offers dense anesthesia for surgical procedures at or distal to the elbow with relatively high success rate, once described as "spinal of the arm". Moreover, supraclavicular brachial plexus block is an excellent alternative to general anesthesia in upper limb surgeries.

To compare the immediate and postoperative analgesic efficacy of S-FICB and PENG block will be the objective. The use of ultrasonography in anesthesia has helped the anesthetist to see the nerve, needle and the distribution of the drug, thereby enhancing the chances of a favorable outcome of the nerve block. Grade A recommendation for an ultrasound guided approach to the peripheral nerve blocks is supported by level Ib evidence for a shortened time for the onset of sensory block, decreased performance time and lower drug doses10. Although individually both the blocks have been studied, there are only a handful of studies comparing both techniques under ultrasound guidance for making patient positioning for spinal anesthesia easy. And no local data is available comparing these blocks. So, we want to compare the analgesic efficacy of USG PENG block with USG S-FICB block in patients with fracture femur in reducing pain associated with positioning (sitting) for subarachnoid block, duration of analgesia, opioid sparing effect and complications. So that procedure with better analgesic efficacy and less complications will be included in our local guidelines as a part of multimodal analgesia.

Nowadays laparoscopic surgery is the first choice for many surgeries. Such surgeries have revolutionized the surgical practice and has markedly reduced the incidence of intraoperative and postoperative complications. To minimize these side effects associated with the use of opioids, various methods have been adopted. Recently, different trials have highlighted the possible role of dexmedetomidine and lignocaine in providing postoperative analgesia and attenuating hemodynamic response. Literature showed conflicting results regarding both these drugs. So, we want to find the evidence for local setting. This Randomized Controlled Trial will be done at Department of Anesthesia, Sahiwal teaching hospital, Sahiwal for 12 months. Sample size of 140 cases; 70 cases in each group will be included through non-probability consecutive sampling. Then patients will be divided in two groups by using computer generated random number table. In group A, patients will be given dexmedetomidine infusion. In group B, patients will be given lignocaine infusion. All anesthesia procedures will be done by researcher. Heart rate and mean arterial pressure will be assessed before induction of anesthesia, after every 10 mins every 30 mins till completion of surgery. Total operative time will be noted. After procedure, patients will be assessed for postoperative pain score. when pain will be ≥4 on visual analogue scale rescue analgesia will be given and time will be noted. Total duration from time of surgery till need for rescue analgesia will be noted. Duration of postoperative analgesia opioid consumption /24 hrs.) will be presented by using mean± SD.