To Compare the Mean Pain Score after giving Dexamethasone versus Placebo following Tonsillectomy in Children with Recurrent Acute Tonsillitis

Abstract

: Pain is one of the most important hurdles for patient rehabilitation following tonsillectomy. Insufficient analgesia leads to poor oral ingestion, which causes lethargy, late recovery and wellbeing. Dexamethasone is a glucocorticoid which is mostly used to reduce the pain and difficulties after tonsillectomy. Aim: To compare mean pain score after administering dexamethasone vs. placebo following tonsillectomy among children with recurrent acute tonsillitis. Study design: Randomized controlled trial. Setting: Department of ENT-I, Services Hospital, Lahore. Duration of study: The duration of study was six month i.e. from 15.07.2015 to 14.01.2016. Methods: Total 100 patients were included and divided into two groups (50 patients in each group). Group-A patients were given dexamethasone 0.1mg/kg while patients of Group-B treated with placebo (normal saline). Results: Patients age range was between 4 to 17 years. In group-A patients the mean age was 10.48±4.14 years and in group-B patients the mean age was 9.92±3.93 years. Result shows that 30(60%) patients in group-A and 38 (76.0%) patients in group-B were males while in Group-A 20(40%) patients and in Group-B 12(24%) patients were female. The comparison showed that postoperative mean pain score was 2.86±1.05 in group-A and 4.08±1.04 in group-B. Difference between both groups was found statistically significant as the p value was <0.001. Stratification in relation to gender and age was performed. Conclusion: Study concluded that dexamethasone single intravenous injection at anesthesia induction decreased the frequency of early and late pain acuteness after twelve hour of surgical procedure. A 0.1mg/kg dose of dexamethasone seemed to be as effective.