title: Effective analgesic dose of dexamethasone after painless abortion.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Dexamethasone is known to produce analgesic effects, but the optimal analgesic dosage of dexamethasone remains unclear, especially in patients without postoperative use of other analgesics. The purpose of this study was to explore the effective analgesic dose of dexamethasone in day surgery patients undergoing painless abortion.
  
  
  METHODS
  287 patients undergoing painless abortion were randomly assigned to one of four groups: control group receiving saline and dexamethasone groups receiving 0.1, 0.15, or 0.2 mg/kg dexamethasone. Drugs were intravenously injected 30 min before induction of anesthesia. All patients underwent the same anesthesia procedure using propofol and remifentan. The visual analogue scale (VAS) scores and occurrence of nausea, vomiting and drug-induced side effects were recorded at 1, 2 and 24 h after operation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no significant differences in patient's clinical characteristics, surgical features and frequency of occurrence of nausea and vomiting among the four groups (P > 0.05). The VAS scores at rest and during coughing at 2 h after operation (time of discharge from the hospital) were significantly lower in patients receiving 0.2 mg/kg dexamethasone compared with control patients (P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Intravenous injection of 0.2 mg/kg dexamethasone before induction of anesthesia can significantly reduce the VAS scores at 2 h after painless abortion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Beijing You An Hospital, Capital Medical University Beijing 100069, China.
authors.forename: Zhe-Feng
authors.initials: ZF
authors.lastname: Quan
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University Beijing 100050, China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Beijing You An Hospital, Capital Medical University Beijing 100069, China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chi
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Beijing You An Hospital, Capital Medical University Beijing 100069, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Beijing You An Hospital, Capital Medical University Beijing 100069, China.
authors.forename: Hai-Li
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: He
keywords: Dexamethasone; abortion; analgesia; nausea; vomiting