24-Hour Analgesic Outcomes After Ultrasound-Guided Bilateral Superficial Cervical Plexus Block With Perineural Dexamethasone for Thyroid Surgery: A Prospective Single-Center Case Series

Question: To describe 24-hour postoperative pain, rescue-analgesic requirements, and reported block-related complications in adults undergoing thyroid surgery who received ultrasound-guided BSCPB with bupivacaine and perineural dexamethasone.
Finding: No block-related complication was reported in the aggregated source results (0/12; post hoc exact 95% CI, 0%–26.5%).
Meaning: Favorable 24-hour pain and rescue-analgesia outcomes were observed after the combined general-anesthesia and BSCPB protocol.

Article summary

Abstract

Background

Bilateral superficial cervical plexus block (BSCPB) is used within multimodal analgesia for thyroid surgery, and dexamethasone has been studied as an adjunct intended to prolong block-related analgesia. Because this study had no comparator group, its findings are interpreted as descriptive outcomes of a combined anesthetic and regional-analgesia protocol rather than as evidence of dexamethasone efficacy.

Objective

To describe 24-hour postoperative pain, rescue-analgesic requirements, and reported block-related complications in adults undergoing thyroid surgery who received ultrasound-guided BSCPB with bupivacaine and perineural dexamethasone.

Methods

This prospective single-center case series included 12 adults from a source population of 21 patients scheduled for thyroid surgery at Hospital Ana Francisca Pérez de León II between January and June 2025. All underwent general anesthesia followed by ultrasound-guided bilateral superficial cervical plexus block using a 10-mL preparation containing bupivacaine 25 mg (final concentration 0.25%) and dexamethasone 4 mg; the source thesis did not specify the exact volume injected per side. Pain was assessed on a 0–10 numerical rating scale at 30 minutes, 2 hours, 12 hours, and 24 hours. Protocol-defined analgesic failure was a score ≥4 at a scheduled assessment or a patient request for rescue medication; ketorolac 30 mg sublingually was the rescue regimen.

Results

All 12 patients were ASA physical status II. At 30 minutes and 2 hours, 1 patient (8.3%) reported no pain and 11 (91.7%) reported mild pain (scores 1–3). At 12 and 24 hours, all 12 patients (100%) had mild pain; no moderate or severe pain was reported at any scheduled assessment. No patient met the predefined failure criterion or required rescue analgesia (12/12; post hoc exact 95% CI, 73.5%–100%). No block-related complication was reported in the aggregated source results (0/12; post hoc exact 95% CI, 0%–26.5%).

Conclusions

Favorable 24-hour pain and rescue-analgesia outcomes were observed after the combined general-anesthesia and BSCPB protocol. The small single-arm sample, systemic analgesic cointerventions, incomplete reporting of several planned outcomes, and absence of a comparator prevent causal attribution to perineural dexamethasone or definitive conclusions regarding safety.

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Objective, principal result, and takeaway derived from complete abstract sections without mid-sentence truncation.

Objective

To describe 24-hour postoperative pain, rescue-analgesic requirements, and reported block-related complications in adults undergoing thyroid surgery who received ultrasound-guided BSCPB with bupivacaine and perineural dexamethasone.

Key finding

No block-related complication was reported in the aggregated source results (0/12; post hoc exact 95% CI, 0%–26.5%).

Clinical takeaway

Favorable 24-hour pain and rescue-analgesia outcomes were observed after the combined general-anesthesia and BSCPB protocol.

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ReceivedJuly 3, 2026
AcceptedSeptember 14, 2026
PublishedSeptember 14, 2026

The Version of Record remains the authoritative article. Corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions are linked here when issued.

Declarations

License

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Funding

The author received no external funding for this study.

Conflicts of interest

The author declares no conflicts of interest.

Author contributions

Rachell C. Machado conceived the study, participated in methodology development, investigation, data collection, data analysis and interpretation, and preparation and revision of the manuscript.

Data availability

The data supporting the findings of this study are not publicly available because they contain participant clinical information. Deidentified data may be available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, subject to institutional and ethical requirements.

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How to Cite

Machado RC. 24-Hour Analgesic Outcomes After Ultrasound-Guided Bilateral Superficial Cervical Plexus Block With Perineural Dexamethasone for Thyroid Surgery: A Prospective Single-Center Case Series. Int J Clin Innov. 2026;1(1).

Received July 3, 2026 · Accepted September 14, 2026

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

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