Anesthesia & Clinical Research
Open Access

Abstract

Analgesic Effect of Intravenous Dexamethasone Prior to Spinal Anesthesia Among Parturient Undergo Cesarean Section at Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Prospective Cohort Study, 2019

Eyayalem Melese, Adamu Tesfaye, Lemelem Getachew and Tinbet Daniel

Background: By prolonging the duration of spinal anesthesia sensory block co-administration of adjuvant has the potential to improve efficacy of regional blocks. However this technique has its own complications. Hence, drugs having minimal side effects and prolonged analgesia is always looked for. This is because postoperative pain in obstetric patients is left untreated and it’s the main cause of chronic pain among women. The aim of the study is to determine the effect of preoperative dexamethasone on prolongation of the analgesic effect of spinal anesthesia after elective cesarean section.

Methods: Sixty four pregnant women undergoing elective cesarean section were randomly assigned to two groups, and spinal anesthesia was administered with different approaches; Bupivacaine alone or bupivacaine with prior administration of IV dexamethasone. Thirty two parturient per group were randomly selected for quantitative determination of severity of postoperative pain and duration of postoperative pain management.

Results: The effect of preoperative dexamethasone on prolongation of the analgesic effect of spinal anesthesia after elective cesarean section were assessed, Groups’ comparison indicated significant difference in terms of severity of postoperative pain, in which the dexamethasone group were lower with p=0.015. Similarly, time to the requirement of first rescue analgesia was prolonged in dexamethasone group with median (interquartile range) score of 6.5 (2.4) as compared to non-dexamethasone group 4.1 (1.8).

Conclusion: Preoperative IV administration of dexamethasone 0.1 mg/kg before administrating spinal anesthesia for cesarean section is efficient in reducing postoperative.