Background: Nausea and vomiting are among the common complications of anesthesia and surgery with a higher incidence in laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of pre-operative dexamethasone on the relief of postoperative nausea and vomiting following LC.

Materials and Methods: This is a randomized clinical trial study. In this prospective, placebo-controlled study, 90 patients requiring laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) were randomly divided into two groups: the dexamethasone group (n=45) received dexamethasone (8 mg, IV) and the control group (n=45) received saline (2cc, IV) 90 minutes before the anesthesia. Signs and symptoms of nausea and vomiting were recorded every 4h for 16h in the two groups. The data were analyzed using Fisher's, Chi- square and t test.

Results: A lower feeling of nausea was seen 4h and 12h post-surgery in the dexamethasone group (P=0.02, P=004), also a lower accurance of vomithng was observed 4h post-operative in the same group compared to the control group (P=0.013).

Conclusion: The results suggest that pre-operative dexamethasone (8 mg, IV) application significantly reduces the incidence of post-operative nausea and vomiting.