DEXAMETHASONE for Non-urgent Thoracic Surgery

Thoracic surgery is at high risk of respiratory complications. Despite the improvement of surgical procedures such as video-thoracoscopy, respiratory complications appear in 15 to -20% of procedures. Thoracic surgery induces local pulmonary inflammation which is involved in the occurrence of post-operative respiratory failure. Similarly to the example of the acute respiratory distress syndrome, corticosteroids could reduce lung injury secondary to immunological stress. In addition, recent studies suggest that dexamethasone could lead to a reduction of respiratory complications after major non cardiothoracic surgery.

Since dexamethasone is recommended to prevent postoperative nausea and vomiting, around one in two patients receive dexamethasone during anesthetic induction. By retrospective analysis with compensation of bias by propensity score, the investigators aim to assess the effect of dexamethasone to prevent respiratory complications