prophylactic use of oral acetaminophen or iv dexamethasone and combination of them on prevention emergence agitation in pediatric after adenotonsillectomy

background: the present study was aimed to evaluate the efficacy of acetaminophen plus dexamethasone on post‑operative emergence agitation in pediatric adenotonsillectomy. methods: a total of 128 patients were randomized and assigned among four groups as: intravenous (iv) dexamethasone, oral acetaminophen, iv dexamethasone plus oral acetaminophen, placebo. group 1 received 0.2 mg/kg dexamethasone plus 0.25 mg/kg strawberry syrup 2 h before surgery. group 2 received 20 mg/kg oral acetaminophen (0.25 ml/kg) with 0.05 ml/kg iv normal saline. group 3 received 20 mg/kg acetaminophen and 0.2 mg/kg dexamethasone intravenously. group 4 received 0.25 ml/kg strawberry syrup and 0.05 ml/kg normal saline. agitation was measured according to richmond agitation sedation score in the post anesthetic care unit (pacu) after admission, 10, 20 and 30 min after extubation. pain score was measured with face scale. nurse satisfaction was measured with verbal analog scale. if agitation scale was 3 ≥ or pain scale was 4 ≥ meperidine was prescribed. if symptoms did not control wit in 15 min midazolam was prescribed. patients were discharged from pacu according modified alderet score. data were analyzed with anova, chi‑square, and kruskal‑wallis among four groups. p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. results: a total of 140 patients were recruited in the study, which 12 of them were excluded. thus, 128 patients were randomized and assigned among four groups. the four treatment groups were generally matched at baseline data. median of pain score in 0, 10, 20 and 30 min after extubation were different between each study group with the control group (<0.001, 0.003 respectively). also median of agitation score in 0, 10, 20 and 30 min after extubation were different between each study group with the control group (<0.001). incidence of pain and incidence of agitation after extubation were not statistically identical among groups ( p < 0.001 and p = 0.002 respectively). mean of recovery time, duration of agitation and 1st time to agitation appearance, meperidine and midazolam consumption, nurse satisfaction and complication frequency were not statistically identical among groups ( p < 0.001). conclusions: acetaminophen, dexamethasone and combination of them are superior to placebo for prevention of agitation after adenotonsillectomy in children. furthermore combinations of both drugs are superior to acetaminophen or dexamethasone separately.