Premedication with Oral Dextromethorphan Reduces Postoperative Pain After Tonsillectomy

Improved Postoperative Pain Control in Pediatric Adenotonsillectomy With Dextromethorphan

“…Premedication with dextromethorphan prior to tonsillectomy has yielded confounding results in the anesthesia literature. This agent's use was first examined in adults in 1997 by Kawamata et al 9 Compared with placebo, the dextromethorphan group had lower VAS ratings and needed less postoperative analgesic through a 7-day follow-up. Additionally, there were no drug-related adverse effects in this group of 36 patients.…”

Preoperative Cotreatment With Dextromethorphan and Ketorolac Provides an Enhancement of Pain Relief After Laparoscopic-assisted Vaginal Hysterectomy

“…14 The failure of some studies to demonstrate a better analgesic effect of DM may be explained by insufficient afferent blockade required to prevent central sensitization because of the use of small doses, oral administration, improper timing of administration in acute pain, and its use in neuropathic pain syndromes after the establishment of central sensitization. 20,21 We suggest that adequate and preoperative parenteral, rather than oral, administration of DM is crucial in obtaining a predictable postoperative pain relief.…”

Preoperative Oral Dextromethorphan Attenuated Tourniquet-Induced Arterial Blood Pressure and Heart Rate Increases in Knee Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Patients Under General Anesthesia

“…Experimental animal studies have shown that DM can reduce the windup phenomenon (11), formalin-induced increases in spinal cord c-fos messenger RNA expression, and pain behavior (12). Clinically, several studies have suggested that oral DM treatment might prevent the sensitization of nociceptive neurons (13)(14)(15). Although its duration of action as an NMDA receptor antagonist is unknown, the elimination half-life of orally administered DM is approximately eight hours (16).…”

“…Several studies have shown that DM pretreatment may prevent the sensitization of nociceptive neurons (13)(14)(15). Investigating the effect of DM, which is not a direct antinociceptive drug, on tourniquet-induced arterial blood pressure increase will be helpful to argue the hypothesis.…”