Impact of dexamethasone on postoperative inflammatory markers and recovery outcomes in elderly patients undergoing open lumbar surgery

Figures

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  Figure 1. CONSORT flow diagram showing the inclusion and exclusion criteria for patients throughout the study. CONSORT, consolidated standards of reporting trials

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  Figure 2. Blood C-reactive protein levels and daily wound-drain output during the perioperative interval (A) Blood CRP during the perioperative interval. (B) Wound drainage output during the perioperative interval. Present the data as a combined box-and-whisker plot with an adjacent scatterplot. In the boxplot on the left, the box depicts the interquartile range, the horizontal line marks the median, and the whiskers denote the minimum and maximum values. In the scatterplot on the right, each circle indicates the data-point distribution density. The Mann-Whitney U test was used. CRP, C-reactive protein; POD, postoperative day.

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  Figure 3. IL-6, TNF-α, IL-8, blood glucose, VAS score, and QoR-15 score (A) Blood IL-6 during the perioperative interval. (B) Blood TNF-α during the perioperative interval. (C) Blood IL-8 during the perioperative interval. (D) Blood glucose during the perioperative interval. (E) Pain VAS score (0–10 scale, with 0 meaning “no pain” and 10 meaning “the worst pain imaginable”). (F) QoR-15 score during the perioperative interval. Present the data as a combined box-and-whisker plot with an adjacent scatterplot. In the boxplot on the left, the box depicts the interquartile range, the horizontal line marks the median, and the whiskers denote the minimum and maximum values. In the scatterplot on the right, each circle indicates the data-point distribution density. The Mann-Whitney U test was used. IL, interleukin; TNF, tumor necrosis factor; VAS, visual analog scale; QoR, quality of recovery. POD, postoperative day.