Dexamethasone decreases epidural morphine-related nausea and vomiting

The aim of our study was to compare the antiemetic effect of IV dexamethaso ne with saline control in preventing epidural morphine-related nausea and v omiting. Eighty patients requiring epidural anesthesia for abdominal total hysterectomy were enrolled in a randomized, double-blinded, and placebo-con trolled study. At the end of surgery, all patients received epidural morphi ne 3 mg for relief of postoperative pain. Before the morphine injection, th e dexamethasone group (n = 40) received IV dexamethasone 8 mg, whereas the saline group (n = 40) received IV saline. We found that the incidence of po stoperative vomiting was 5% in the dexamethasone group and 25% in the salin e group (P < 0.05). The total incidence of nausea and vomiting was 16% in t he dexamethasone group and 56% in the saline group (P < 0.001). IV dexameth asone 8 mg significantly decreases the incidence of epidural morphine-relat ed nausea and vomiting. Implications: We evaluated IV dexamethasone versus saline control in preventing epidural morphine-related nausea and vomiting in patients receiving epidural morphine for postoperative pain control. We found that IV dexamethasone significantly decreased the total incidence of nausea and vomiting after epidural morphine. TV dexamethasone may be a valu able treatment for preventing epidural morphine-related nausea and vomiting .