The Effect of Intravenous Dexamethasone on Post Abdominoplasty on Pain, Nausea and Vomiting

Studies have shown that pain, nausea and vomiting after abdominoplasty are the most common complications that lead to accumulation of hematoma, delay in discharge and more postoperative drug usage. Researchers use numerous medications, including corticosteroids to reduce these complications to the minimum possible extent. The present study aims at investigating the effects of intravenous Dexamethasone on post abdominoplasty pain, nausea and vomiting. This controlled clinical study was conducted on 44 patients who were candidates for abdominoplasty surgery. Patients were randomly divided into two groups, namely intervention and control ones. The intervention group received 8 mg intravenous Dexamethasone and the control group received nothing. The patients underwent identical anesthesia and surgery. After every 6 hours, pain and nausea were assessed by pain measurement scale and vomiting was analyzed through a questionnaire for 24 hours. Finally, the data were analyzed by repeated measures ANOVA test and proportion test was used to compare qualitative variables. the average of postoperative pain and nausea immediately after the surgery, after 6, 12, 18, 24 hours were significantly different in the intervention group than in the control one (P=0.03). However, there was no vomiting in both of the groups.Discussion & the results of the study indicated that Dexamethasone can reduce the postoperative pain and nausea after abdominoplasty surgery. However, due to the absence of vomiting in the two groups, there were no clear effects on vomiting.