The effect of a single dose of ondansetron on postoperative nausea and vomiting

Abstract

The effect of ondansetron, droperidol and ondansetron+droperidol in preventing postoperative nausea and vomiting was investigated in this study. A total of 58 patients were given 8 mg ondansetron, 5 mg droperidol, 4 mg ondansetron + 5 mg droperidol or saline intravenously in 4 groups, 5 minutes before induction of anaesthesia. The patients were evaluated for 24 l postoperatively. The incidence of nausea during 24 h postoperative period was 20% in the ondansetron group, 66.6% in the droperidol group, 23.1% in the ondansetron+droperidol group and 93.3% in the saline group. In the same groups the incidence of vomiting was 6.6%, 40%, 6.6% and 93.3%, respectively. All the medicated groups experienced significantly fewer episodes of nausea and vomiting than the saline group (p < 0.01). While there was no significant difference between the medicated groups in the first 6 h, the nausea and vomiting episodes were significantly fewer than the other groups in ondansetron medicated patients between 6 and 24 h (p < 0.01). It is concluded that for the prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting, a single 8 mg intravenous dose of ondansetron may be recommended.