37: Should intraoperative dexamethasone be avoided in patients with diabetes mellitus?

Dr. Caroline Andrew and Dr. David Nathan join the show to discuss the literature pertaining to intraoperative administration of dexamethasone.

Dr. Caroline Andrew is an anesthesia resident at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. David Nathan is the Director of the Diabetes Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. 

This podcast was recorded as part of the Depth of Anesthesia podcast elective.

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Music by Stephen Campbell, MD.

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References

Tien M, Gan TJ, Dhakal I, White WD, Olufolabi AJ, Fink R, Mishriky BM, Lacassie HJ, Habib AS. The effect of anti-emetic doses of dexamethasone on postoperative blood glucose levels in non-diabetic and diabetic patients: a prospective randomised controlled study. Anaesthesia. 2016 Sep;71(9):1037-43. doi: 10.1111/anae.13544. PMID: 27523051.

Polderman JA, Farhang-Razi V, Van Dieren S, Kranke P, DeVries JH, Hollmann MW, Preckel B, Hermanides J. Adverse side effects of dexamethasone in surgical patients. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018 Nov 23;11(11):CD011940. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD011940.pub3. PMID: 30480776; PMCID: PMC6426282.

Andrew J. Toner, Vyhunthan Ganeshanathan, Matthew T. Chan, Kwok M. Ho, Tomas B. Corcoran; Safety of Perioperative Glucocorticoids in Elective Noncardiac Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Anesthesiology 2017; 126:234–248 doi: https://doi.org/10.1097/ALN.0000000000001466

Corcoran TB, O'Loughlin E, Chan MTV, Ho KM. Perioperative Administration of Dexamethasone And blood Glucose concentrations in patients undergoing elective non-cardiac surgery - the randomised controlled PADDAG trial. Eur J Anaesthesiol. 2021 Sep 1;38(9):932-942. doi: 10.1097/EJA.0000000000001294. PMID: 32833858.

Pang, QY., Wang, JY., Liang, XL. et al. The safety of perioperative dexamethasone with antiemetic dosage in surgical patients with diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Perioper Med 12, 4 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13741-023-00293-4

De Oliveira GS Jr, Castro-Alves LJ, Ahmad S, Kendall MC, McCarthy RJ. Dexamethasone to prevent postoperative nausea and vomiting: an updated meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Anesth Analg. 2013 Jan;116(1):58-74. doi: 10.1213/ANE.0b013e31826f0a0a. Epub 2012 Dec 7. PMID: 23223115.