Abstract:Objective To analyze the effect of different doses of dexamethasone on postoperative analgesia and cognitive dysfunction in elderly patients after radical hysterectomy. Methods 90 patients undergoing radical hysterectomy were randomly divided into three groups: the low dose dexamethasone group (Dex-L), the high dose dexamethasone group (Dex-H) and the control group, with 30 cases in each. At the induction of general anesthesia, patients were intravenously injected with 0.1 mg/kg of dexamethasone, 0.2 mg/kg of dexamethasone or same volume of saline. At 1 d before operation and 1, 3, 5, 7 d after operation, the visual analog score (VAS) was used to assess incision pain of patients, the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) was applied to evaluate the cognitive function and the incidences of postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) of patients. Results The VAS resting scores of Dex-H and Dex-L groups and the VAS exercise score of Dex-H group were significantly lower than those of the control group at every time point after operation (P<0.05). Compared to the control group, the MMSE score of Dex-L group increased and the incidence of POCD reduced after operation ( P <0.05). Conclusion The low dose dexamethasone (0.1 mg/kg) can reduce incision pain as well as the incidence of POCD in patients after radical hysterectomy, while the high dose dexamethasone (0.2 mg/kg) can only reduce incision pain, it shows no effects on the POCD incidence in patients after radical hysterectomy.