Postoperative nausea and vomiting: is everything now solved or still more questions than answers?

Postoperative nausea and vomiting: risk factors, prediction tools, and algorithms

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Postoperative/postdischarge nausea and vomiting (PONV/PDNV) remain relevant issues in perioperative care. Especially in ambulatory surgery, PONV can prevent discharge or lead to unplanned readmission.

RECENT FINDINGS

The evidence for the management of PONV is now quite good but is still inadequately implemented. A universal, multimodal rather than risk-adapted approach for PONV prophylaxis is now recommended. The evidence on PDNV is insufficient.

SUMMARY

PDNV management is based primarily on consequent prophylaxis and therapy of PONV.

The preventive and relieving effects of ginger on postoperative nausea and vomiting: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

BACKGROUND

Postoperative nausea and vomiting are common uncomfortable symptoms experienced by patients. Besides drugs, non-pharmaceutical therapies such as herbal medicine therapy are available. Ginger has played a therapeutic role in patients undergoing chemotherapy and pregnant women, but results from postoperative patients are inconsistent.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to examine and evaluate the preventive effect of ginger on postoperative nausea and vomiting.

DESIGN

A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials METHODS: Two independent researchers searched Chinese and English databases from their inception dates to November 2020. The Chinese databases used were CNKI and SinoMed, and the English databases used were PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library. We only included randomized controlled trials. The primary outcomes were nausea score, presented as standard mean difference, and the number of vomiting episodes, presented as risk ratio. The secondary outcomes were side effects and antiemetic drug use, presented as risk ratios. We used the random-effects model.

RESULTS

Fourteen randomized trials with a total of 1,506 patients were pooled. At the different time points, the control group had higher postoperative nausea scores than the experimental group, and the differences were significant between the ginger and placebo groups at 2, 6, and 12 h after operation, with standard mean differences and 95% confidence intervals of -1.10 and -1.95 to -0.25, -1.54 and -3.05 to -0.03, and -2.04 and -3.67 to -0.41, respectively. Except in the recovery room, no statistically significant correlation was found between ginger intake and postoperative vomiting, postoperative nausea and vomiting, or antiemetic drug use.

CONCLUSION

The results of this meta-analysis demonstrate that ginger can reduce postoperative nausea but showed no significant difference in the incidence rates of postoperative vomiting, postoperative nausea and vomiting, and antiemetic drug use. More high-quality and rigorous trials are needed to elucidate the relationship between ginger intake and the reduction in the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting.

PROTOCOL REGISTRATION

CRD42020220916.

Drugs in anesthesia: preventing postoperative nausea and vomiting

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) continues to be a burden for patients, medical staff and healthcare facilities because of inadequate adherence to available recommendations. This review gives an overview on recent recommendations, new evidence and remaining issues in the field of PONV management.

RECENT FINDINGS

A wide range of drugs is available for the management of PONV including corticosteroids, 5-HT3-antagonists, dopamine-antagonists, neurokinin-receptor-1 (NK1)-antagonists, antihistamines and anticholinergics. The updated PONV guidelines from 2020 recommend a universal multimodal strategy for PONV prophylaxis, which is an important paradigm shift to improve implementation of the existing evidence. A recent Cochrane network meta-analysis ranked single drugs and drug combinations for PONV prophylaxis in terms of efficacy and safety. Notably, NK1-antagonists and new 5-HT3-antagonists ranged among the most effective drugs. However, safety data on antiemetics are generally scarce.

SUMMARY

Numerous drug (combinations) and strategies are available for PONV management. New and very effective (single) drugs could result in a simplification compared with a combination of several drugs, and thus lead to better implementation.

Oral mosapride can provide additional anti-emetic efficacy following total joint arthroplasty under general anesthesia: a randomized, double-blinded clinical trial

Background

We sought to determine (1) whether the addition of prophylactic oral mosapride to a protocol including dexamethasone and ondansetron further reduces postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) compared with ondansetron alone or the combination of both; (2) whether preemptive application of oral mosapride provides additional clinical benefits for bowel function and appetite, thus improving functional recovery.

Methods

We randomized 240 patients undergoing total hip and knee arthroplasty to receive placebo (Control, n = 80), dexamethasone (10 mg) before anesthesia induction (Dexa, n = 82), or dexamethasone (10 mg) before anesthesia induction as well as oral mosapride (5 mg) before and after surgery (Mosa+Dexa, n = 78). Patients were assessed at 0–6, 6–12, 12–24, and 24–48 h postoperatively. Primary outcomes were incidence and severity of PONV as well as complete response. Secondary outcomes were appetite, time until first defecation and ambulation, patient satisfaction score, and length of hospital stay.

Results

Mosa+Dexa patients showed significantly lower incidence of nausea at 6–12 h (3.8%) and over the entire evaluation period (6.4%), as well as a higher rate of complete response (89.7%) than other patients. Mosa+Dexa patients required less time to achieve first defecation and ambulation, they were hospitalized for shorter time, and they were more satisfied with clinical care.

Conclusion

Addition of oral mosapride further reduced incidence of PONV, especially postoperative nausea, during 6–12 h postoperatively. Moreover, preemptive application of oral mosapride can further improve appetite, bowel function, ambulation and length of hospital stay.

Trial registration

The study protocol was registered at the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR1800015896), prospectively registered on 27/04/2018.

Intolerance to early oral feeding in enhanced recovery after colorectal surgery: an early red flag?

AIM

Enhanced recovery programmes (ERPs) involve early postoperative oral feeding. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that intolerance to early feeding was associated with a complicated postoperative course.

METHOD

A retrospective cohort analysis of the prospective multicentre database developed by the Francophone Group for Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (GRACE) was undertaken. Seventy-one centres in Belgium, France and Switzerland participated in the study. All patients were encouraged to eat within 24 h after surgery. Patients were separated into two groups according to whether early feeding was well tolerated (WT) or poorly tolerated (PT). The primary outcome measure was overall postoperative complications. Secondary outcome measures were unplanned reoperation, early mobilization rate and duration of postoperative hospital stay.

RESULTS

Among the cohort of 3034 patients, early feeding was WT in 2614 patients (WT group) and PT in 420 patients (PT group). There were significantly more postoperative complications in the PT group than in the WT group (52.1% vs 17.0%, respectively; P = 0.001), namely more unplanned reoperations, less early mobilization and longer postoperative hospital stay. Multivariate analyses confirmed that PT early feeding was the main and dominant independent factor for postoperative complications [OR 4.47 (95% CI3.49-5.72); P < 0.001], more unplanned reoperations and longer hospital stay.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrates a close relationship between intolerance to early feeding and a complicated postoperative course. Whenever this simple very early red flag is observed, discharge should not be planned until postoperative complications have been ruled out.