Intraoperative dexamethasone irrigation in lumbar microdiskectomy.

In 45 lumbar hemilaminectomy/microdiskectomy patients, a control group of 23 patients had the standard operative procedure. The remaining 22 patients were treated with intraoperative irrigation of long-acting dexamethasone before incision closure. Age, weight, gender ratio, mean postoperative hospital stay, mean in-hospital narcotics usage, and incidence of perioperative complications among the two groups were compared. Age and gender ratios were comparable, although the control group was significantly heavier in body weight than the steroid-irrigated group. The steroid-irrigated group had a significant reduction in hospitalization and a marked reduction in narcotics usage compared with the control group. Postoperative fever occurred in one patient in the steroid group. The control group had three postoperative complications. These preliminary observations suggest that dexamethasone irrigation during lumbar diskectomy is a safe and effective adjunct to surgical management.