The influence of dexamethasone on postoperative nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing gynecologic laparoscopic...

Dexamethasone, as a part of multimodal approach, can decrease nausea and vomiting following laparoscopy in high risk patients. We performed this study to find out whether the dexamethasone can improve postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) in patients undergoing gynecology laparoscopic surgeries.

In this double-blind randomized clinical trial, 91 patients who underwent gynecologic laparoscopic surgery in Rasool Akram hospital in Tehran during 2011-2014 were enrolled. Fourty-four patients received 8 mg dexamethasone (study group) and 47 patients received 10 mg metochlopramide (control group) intravenously after intubation. Outcome parameters including age, weight, height, cause of hospitalization, drugs, Last Menstrual Period (LMP), Blood Pressure (BP), Heart Rate (HR), Respiratory Rate (RR) and oxygen saturation, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score, nausea and vomiting were entered to SPSS (v.16) and were analyzed.

Eighyt-eight American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) class 1-2 patients between 25-39 years old were analyzed. There was no difference in vital signs during and post operation (BP, HR, RR and O₂ saturation) between these two groups (p value>0.05). There was no significant difference between VAS score at 4 and 24 hours after the operation (14% vs. 17.8% and 7% vs. 6.7%, respectively, p>0.05). Incidence of PONV in 4 hours was significantly lower in dexamethasone group (11.6% vs. 55.6% p<0.0001), while there was no significant difference in 24 hours (23.3% vs. 22.2%, p>0.05) and also need to anti-emetic drugs wasn't significantly lower in study group (p>0.05).

We conclude that dexamethasone can relieve PONV after gynecologic laparoscopic surgery.