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A large scale trial by Monash University has definitively found a drug commonly used during anaesthesia before surgery to prevent nausea and vomiting does not increase the risk of a surgical wound infection as once feared.
The steroid drug, dexamethasone, is often given by anaesthetists during surgery. However, because of its effects on the immune system there has been growing concern that it may increase the risk of wound infections, particularly in vulnerable populations such as patients with diabetes.
As a result, there has been a reluctance to use it, even though more than half of patients are at risk of experiencing nausea and vomiting after their surgery. The same drug has recently been shown to decrease the risk of death from COVID-19 in severely ill patients.