Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 August 2006
Peri-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV), remain a considerable problem. Ondansetron is being promoted currently as the drug of choice for the prevention and treatment of PONV. Experiments to investigate efficacy of ondansetron in PONV have been made with placebo or single doses of other drugs, e.g. metoclopramide, and often with different anaesthetic regimes with different emetic potential. This study investigated the relative benefits, in the prevention of PONV, of ondansetron compared with metoclopramide used at a dose higher than used in previous studies. Ninety-six patients undergoing minor gynaecological surgery were randomized to receive either ondansetron 4 mg or metoclopramide 0.4 mg kg−1. The patients were then assessed in the recovery room, in the day ward prior to discharge and the following day for the occurrence of PONV. Emetic symptoms occurred in similar proportions of patients who received ondansetron and metoclopramide. Nausea scores were similar between the groups in the recovery ward and 24-h follow-ups but there were higher post-operative nausea scores in the ondansetron group in the day ward (P = 0.001). There were no significant side effects due to either drug. We conclude that moderate dose metoclopramide is an effective alternative to ondansetron in the control of PONV.
To send this article to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about sending to your Kindle. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save this article to your Dropbox account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Dropbox account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save this article to your Google Drive account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Google Drive account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.