Background and aims Dexamethasone provides anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect, but induces hyperglycemia and may increase serum lactate. the aim was to determine the effect of dexamethasoneon analgesia, blood glucose and lactate after hip arthroplasty.

Methods This prospective randomized study includes 32 patients undergoing hip replacement. It was provided SA and patients received multimodal analgesia. the experimental group received Dexamethasone 8 mg i/v before surgery and 4 mg i/v in a 6 and 12 hours after the first dose. the control group did not receive any glucocorticoids. Blood glucose and lactate were measured before surgery,at 18:00 and 6:00 on the POD1. Patients filled in a pain questionnaire. Data were processed using SPSS programme.

Results The intensity of pain did not differ before surgery. At rest, it was 1.2 VAS in the experimental group and 3.0 in the control group (p<0.05) at 18:00, and 0.8 and 2.69, respectively, at 6:00 (p<0.005), but on movement, it was 1.4 and 3.6 (p<0.05) at 18:00 and 1.5 and 3.8 at 6:00 (p<0.005), respectively. Glucose of the experimental and control groups was 5.5 and 5.4 mmol/l, respectively, before surgery; 8.0 and 6.6 mmol/l at 18:00; and 7.2 and 5.6 mmol/l at 6:00. Lactate of the experimental and control groups was 0.9 and 1.5 mmol/l, respectively, before surgery; 1.6 and 1.3 mmol/l (p 0.254) at 18:00; and 1.7 and 1.1 mmol/l (p <0.05) at 6.00.

Conclusions Dexamethasone provides excellent analgesic effect and serum glucose and lactate does not reach recovery affecting level during perioperative period after hip replacement.