DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2015.v03i02.084

Pages: 957-961

Various studies done from time to time suggest that the incidence of post operative nausea and vomiting(PONV) after laparoscopic surgeries is very high and the prophylaxis and treatment is complex.Previous studies in this regard so far have used various drugs either alone or in combination. Therefore, we decided to compare the effect Ondansetron and Dexamethasone on PONV after laparoscopic surgeries. 60 adult ASA Grade I or II patients scheduled to undergo elective laparoscopic surgeries under general anesthesia were studied. They were randomly divided into 3 groups of 20 patients each. Group I patients served as control and received 10ml of normal saline, Group II patients received dexamethasone 0.15mg/kg diluted to 10 ml with normal saline and Group III patients received ondansetron 0.1 mg/kg diluted to 10 ml with normal saline. Postoperatively incidence of nausea and vomiting was recorded on a 3-point scale (0=none, 1= nausea, 2= vomiting) at 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours and 24 hours. Rescue antiemetic in the form of metoclopramide 0.15 mg/kg i.v was given if the patient vomited more than once or demanded treatment. Comparison of the observations among different groups was done and statistically analyzed using Fisher's exact test and Mann-- Whitney-U test. It was found that there was a high incidence of PONV after laparoscopic surgeries. Dexamethasone in a dose of 0.15-mg/kg i.v and ondansetron in a dose of 0.1 mg/kg i.v were highly effective in reducing the incidence of PONV for 8 hours and 4 hours respectively after surgery. Both the drugs significantly reduced the requirement of rescue antiemetics during the 24-hour postoperative period. Prophylactic dexamethasone in a dose of 0.15mg/kg i.v is highly effective in reducing the incidence of PONV for 8 hours after surgery. Ondansetron in a dose of 0.1mg/kg i.v is highly effective in reducing the incidence PONV for 4 hours after surgery.