Efficacy of Single Dose Preoperative Intravenous Dexamethasone for Postoperative Pain Relief in Tonsillectomy Patients

Introduction: Tonsillectomy continues to be one of the most common surgical procedures performed worldwide. Despite advances in anaesthetic and surgical techniques, post tonsillectomy pain remains a signicant clinical problem for the patient, family and physician. We undertook the study to find out the effectiveness of a single IV dose of dexamethasone (0.15 mg/kg) on post tonsillectomy pain. Methods: This study was conducted with 100 patients who underwent tonsillectomy. Patients were divided into two groups of 50, where one group received preoperative dexamethasone injection and the other group were not given injection Dexamethasone. Postoperative pains of both groups were assessed using visual analogue scale (VAS) and objective pain scale (OPS). Tramadol 1 mg/kg in first six hours and oral paracetamol 10 mg/kg in next 6-24 hours were administered if OPS score of 6 or VAS score of 40 ocurred. Results: There is significant difference in pain relief in both the groups in first 6 hours and next 6- 24 hours postoperative hours. Conclusions: A single dose of preoperative intravenous dexamethasone significantly decreased the postoperative pain in tonsillectomy patients.