The efficacy and safety of multiple versus single doses dexamethasone in unicompartmental knee arthroplasty

Background: Concerns exist regarding the analgesia effect and safety of multiple versus single doses dexamethasone in unicompartmental knee arthroplasty. There is an urgent need of studies that efficiently control for confounding, conduct comprehensive and consecutive observation of potential risks of the dexamethasone administration, and investigate its clinical applicability. We thus further designed a randomized controlled study to assess the different dose of dexamethasone on postoperative pain and complications in patients undergoing unicompartmental knee arthroplasty. Methods: This randomized, prospective, controlled study was carried out between January 2018 and August 2019. It was approved by the institutional review board in our hospital (HBRM2020013). A total of 80 patients were randomly assigned to each group: the study group (n = 40) and the control group (n = 40). All surgical procedures were performed by a similar orthopedic surgeon. In the study group, patients received intravenously 20 mg dexamethasone (4 mL, Tianjin Kingyork group Co., Ltd., China) just after the anesthesia, and repeated at 24 hours after the surgery. Patients in the control group received intravenously 10 mg dexamethasone solution (2 mL) just after the anesthesia, and repeated at 24 hours after the surgery. CRP, IL-6, VAS pain scores at rest and walking, the VAS scores of nausea, and the incidence of postoperative vomiting and nausea (POVN) were recorded at 24, 48, and 72 hours postoperatively. Conclusion: We hypothesized that patients receiving multiple doses of dexamethasone was associated with better outcomes compared with patients receiving single dose of dexamethasone. Trial registration: This study protocol was registered in Research Registry (researchregistry5770).