Single dose of dexamethasone for prevention of nausea and vomiting after major gynaecological surgery.

Background: Post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is a common complications following general anaesthesia and is a leading cause of morbidity following surgery. The mainstay of management them is by the use of antiemetic.

Method: It was a randomized double blind placebo controlled study. The sample size was calculated as 90 from previous study with 10% attrition to make the 100. They were randomly divided into two groups; group B received dexamethasone prophylactically at induction while group A received placebo also at induction. All patients had balanced general anaesthesia and were taken to the recovery room postoperatively where incidences of postoperative nausea and vomiting were recorded. Patients with incidences of nausea and vomiting were treated with 10 mg metoclopramide intravenously while postoperative complications that may be associated with dexametnasone prophylaxis were also noted.

Results: The groups were comparable with respect to demographic characteristics. More patients in group A (placebo group)) had incidence of nausea than group B (dexamethasone group) with p value of 0.01 and also more patients in group A had vomiting than group B with p value of 0.02; which was significant. The duration of stay in the recovery room for both groups A and B were however comparable with no statistical difference.

Conclusion: Dexamethasone when given prophylactically at induction reduces incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting after gynaecological surgeries.