Comparing the Effect of Pethedine, Dexamethasone and Placebo on Preventing Post-operation Shivering

Background: Post-operation shivering is very common and followed by many problems such as
increased oxygen consumption, blood pressure, intracranial and intraocular pressure, and postoperation
pain. Therefore, prevention of shivering is important especially in elderly and ischemic
heart disease patients. The goal of this study was comparing the effect of Pethedine (Meperidin),
Dexamethasone and Placebo on prevention of shivering.
Material and Methods: This double blind clinical trial study was carried out on 114 patients of
ASA class I and II who were candidates for elective abdominal surgery under general anesthesia.
The patients were randomly divided into three groups including those who received Pethedine (P),
Dexamethasone (D) and Placebo (N). Induction and maintenance of anesthesia for all patients were
similar. Temperature of patients was measured in 4 steps: before induction, before extubation, in
the beginning of recovery and the end of recovery. Five minutes before the ending of the surgery
0.3mg/kg of Pethedine, 0.1mg/kg of Dexamethasone and 3ml of saline 0.9% were injected to groups
P, D and N respectively. IN recovery all patients were controlled for visible shivering. 25mg of
Pethedine was injected intra venously while shivering. All data were statistically analyzed by SPSS
software and ANOVA and chi square tests.
Results: There were no significant differences among three mentioned groups regarding of
gender, age and duration of surgery. 18 cases (47.4%) in group N had post-op shivering. Whereas,
in group D only 7 cases (18.4%) had shivering and the difference was significant (P value=
0.0001). Also in group P just 3 cases (7.9%) had shivering that the difference from Placebo group
was significant (P value= 0.0001). But the difference between groups P and D was not significant
too (P value= 0.155).
Conclusion: The present study showed that Pethedine and Dexamethasone are effective drugs for
preventing the post-op shivering in elective abdominal surgery.