Intravenous administration of 8 mg of dexamethasone is common during general anesthesia for surgical procedures, as both prophylaxis against emesis and a component of multimodal analgesia. Based on the results of a recent trial, how would the risk of surgical site infection MOST likely be affected by this dose of dexamethasone compared with placebo?
Prophylaxis against postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is a strongly recommended standard of care for patients with two or more risk factors for PONV. Dexamethasone is a commonly used agent because it is inexpensive and easy to administer, it has no hemodynamic or cardiac rhythm-related adverse effects, and it contributes to postoperative analgesia.
Dexamethasone is the only agent that counts for performance in both the PONV prevention and multimodal analgesia measures of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). For these reasons it is now administered to more than half of patients receiving general anesthesia for a...