Abstract: Objective To observe the influences of dexamethasone on liver function after hepatectomy in patients with primary liver cancer（PLC）. Methods 160 patients with PLC were randomly divided into observation group and control group with 80 cases each. Thepatients in control group received conventional therapy,and those in observation were treated with intravenous administration of dexamethasone for three days. Serum alanine aminotransferas （ALT）,aspartate aminotransferase （AST）,albumin（ALB）,total bilirubin（TBIL）,inflammatory cytokine hypersensitive C-reactive protein（hs-CRP）,interleukin-8（IL-8） levels and incidence of postoperative complications were recorded. Results At third and seventh day,serum ALT levels in observation group were（114.6±14.9） U/L and （50.2±6.7） U/L,respectively,much lower than in the control group [（279.2±21.2） U/L and （79.8±11.0） U/L,P<0.05];serum AST levels were（141.2±16.0） U/L and（59.8±7.1） U/L,much lower than in the control group [（299.3±20.4） U/L and（85.5±12.4） U/L,P<0.05];serum ALB levels were（34.8±1.6） g/L and （38.3±1.9） g/L,much higher than in control [（31.6±1.4） g/L and（35.0±1.8） g/L,P<0.05];serum TBIL levels were （32.2±2.7） μmol/L and （27.1±2.4） μmol/L,much lower than in the control group [（36.2±3.1） μmol/L and （31.2±2.6） μmol/L,P<0.05];at the end of first day and seventh day,serum hs-CRP levels in observation were （25.0±3.1） mg/L and （17.8±2.1） mg/L,much lower than in the control group （30.6±3.8） mg/L and （21.0±2.6） mg/L,P<0.05];seerum IL-8 levels were（24.0±3.0） pg/ml and（14.0±1.9） pg/ml,much lower than in the control group[（28.6±3.7） pg/ml and（18.5±2.1） pg/ml,P<0.05];the postoperative complication rate in observation was 35.0%,without significant difference in control（23.8%,P>0.05）. Conclusion Dexamethasone can protect liver function in patients with PLC after hepatectomy,which might be related to the inhibition of inflammatory reactions.

Key words: Hepatoma, Hepatectomy, Dexamethasone, Perioperative period, Liver function