Preoperative intravenous dexamethasone combined with glossopharyngeal nerve block: role in pediatric postoperative analgesia following tonsillectomy

Tonsillectomy is one of the most frequently performed ambulatory surgical procedures in children (Litman et al. in Anesth Analg 78:478-481, 1994). Several techniques have been described for alleviation of pain (Ginstrom et al. in Acta Otolaryngol 125:972-975, 2005). the objective of this study determination of the postoperative analgesic efficacy of the pre-surgical intravenous administration of dexamethasone together with glossopharyngeal nerve block (GNB) in children undergoing tonsillectomy. Prospective double blind randomized control study using both pre-operative injection of 0.5 mg/kg dexamethasone iv and 3 ml of 0.5% bupivacaine local injection for bilateral glossopharyngeal nerve block. Patients in group B had significantly less visual analogue scale values, longer absolute analgesia time, lesser swallowing difficulty and they were discharged earlier from the hospital when compared to patients in both groups D and G. Using both pre-operative dexamethasone IV injection with GNB has reduced postoperative pain and morbidity to a great extent than using either alone.