IngentaConnect Prophylactic antiemetic effect of dexamethasone in women undergoi...

Authors: Wang J.J.¹; Ho S.T.¹; Liu H.S.²; Ho C.M.³

Source: BJA: British Journal of Anaesthesia, Volume 84, Number 4, April 2000 , pp. 459-462(4)

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prophylactic antiemetic effect of i.v. dexamethasone in women undergoing ambulatory laparoscopic tubal ligation. Ninety patients requiring general anaesthesia for laparoscopic tubal ligation were enrolled in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Forty-five patients received dexamethasone 10 mg i.v. and 45 received saline 2 ml i.v. at the induction of anaesthesia. We found that 27% of patients in the dexamethasone group, compared with 63% of patients in the saline group, reported nausea and vomiting within 4 h after surgery (P<0.01). Seven per cent of patients in the dexamethasone group, compared with 28% of patients in the saline group, received a rescue antiemetic (P<0.05). During the 24-h postoperative observation period, 34% of patients in the dexamethasone group, compared with 73% of patients in the saline group, reported nausea and vomiting (P<0.001). We conclude that dexamethasone 10 mg significantly decreases the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting in women undergoing ambulatory laparoscopic tubal ligation.

Keywords: pharmacology; surgery, laparoscopy; vomiting, antiemetics, nausea

Document Type: Original article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Anesthesiology, Institute of Medical Sciences, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan 2: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Institute of Medical Sciences, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan 3: Institute of Medical Sciences, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan

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Prophylactic antiemetic effect of dexamethasone in women undergoing ambulatory laparoscopic surgery