Effect of Parental Metoclopramide, in Conjunction with a General Anesthetic, on the Incidence of Postoperative Nausea, Retching and Vomiting in an Ambulatory Surgical Setting.

摘要

Metoclopramide is a drug that has central antiemetic effects and additionally speeds gastric emptying. It has minimal side effects. It has been studied as a drug for use in the prevention of postoperative nausea, retching and vomiting with contradictory results. It has not been studied in an outpatient surgical situation where rapid recovery is desirable, and where postoperative problems such as nausea, retching and vomiting must be kept to a minimum. Thirty patients undergoing minor gynecological surgical procedures in an ambulatory surgery setting were randomly placed in two groups of 15 patients each. The control group was not given metoclopramide in conjunction with their general anesthetic. Patients were observed during their recovery room stay, until their discharge, for the incidence of nausea, retching and vomiting using a tool designed for this purpose. Comparing the drug-treated subjects with those receiving no drug, there was no significant difference in the occurrence of any of the symptoms--nausea, retching or vomiting in either the recovery room or at the 24-hour point. In only one case was there even a marginally significant difference in the occurrence of a symptom (if p=0.05) and that was for vomiting. When looking at the treatment groups in comparing their effects at both the recovery room and 24-hour time frames, vomiting did occur marginally less than the other two symptoms in this case when looking at both treatment regimes and time frames (p=0.0585).