Objectives: To assess the effect of combination of the dexamethasone with local anesthetics and narcotics on enhancing the duration of painlessness and reducing the need for intravenous drugs for post cesarean pain control.
Research Design: Conduction of a randomized, double-blind, clinical trial, method of randomization: simple randomization by computer .
Inclusion criteria: women with a gestational age of 38-42 weeks; ASA I and II and literate.
Exclusions criteria: pregnant woman who had received any analgesics during the prior 48 hours; addiction to the drugs ; hypersensitive to the administered drugs (lidocaine, dexamethasone, morphine); positive history of mental illness.
Interventions: The parturients were divided into three equal groups to receive either 70 mg lidocaine intrathecally or 70 mg lidocaine combined with 0.15 mg morphine, or the latter regimen combined with 4 mg dexamethasone. For the first group, spinal anesthesia was done by using 70 mg lidocaine and no intravenous or intramuscular analgesics, or any other intrathecal drug. In the second group, we used 70 mg lidocaine in combination with 0.15 mg morphine 70 mg lidocaine, 0.15 mg morphine, and 4 mg dexamethasone were used for the third group,. Various variables such as pain intensity and amount of morphine administered as well as neonates' Apgar scores and duration of stay in the recovery room were compared between the three groups.