Abstract: Objective To investigate the clinical effect of small and medium dose of dexamethasone on prevention of early complications of soft tissue after acute trauma in lower extremity. Methods From January 2015 to March 2016, 350 patients with acute trauma in lower extremity were selected by using simple sampling method. All the patients were divided into 3 groups through a simple randomization, 116 cases in the control group, 116 cases in the small dose group, 117 cases in the medium dose group. All patients were treated with basic treatment, then the control group were treated with glucose infusion by intravenous injection, small dose group were treated with dexamethasone (0.1 mg/Kg) infusion by intravenous injection, medium dose group were treated with dexamethasone (0.2 mg/Kg) infusion by intravenous injection. The difference of limb blister incidence, limb circumference ratio, IL-6, CRP, osteofascial compartment syndrome occurred rate and adverse reaction rate among the three groups were compared. Results Limb circumference ratio of small dose group and medium dose group at 48 h were significantly less than that before treatment (P0.05). The level of CRP and IL-6 at 48 h in small dose group and medium dose group were significantly lower than that before treatment (P0.05). The adverse reaction among the three groups had no statistical significance ( P>0.05). Conclusion The rate of early complications of soft tissue after acute trauma of lower extremity can be effectively reduced by application of small and medium dose of dexamethasone. However, application of medium dose of dexamethasone can not increase the patient's clinical effect.

Key words: Small and medium dose, Dexamethasone, Acute trauma of lower extremity, Early complications of soft tissue