Results
The study groups were comparable in terms of age, weight, sex, anaesthetic risk, duration of anaesthesia and intra-anaesthetic opioid consumption ( table 1 ). Patients with a history of PONV or motion sickness were excluded from the study. The average volume of crystalloid solution given during anaesthesia was 7501000mL. One patient in the nicotine patch group developed dizziness that ceased after removal of the patch, 8 hours after application. This patient remained free of nausea and vomiting for 24 hours postoperatively and his results were included in the study.
The incidence of PONV in the study groups is given in table 2 . The results were registered as patients with nausea only lasting >10 minutes, patients with vomiting (with or without accompanying nausea) and the overall number of patients with PONV. The overall incidence of PONV was significantly lower in groups 2 (patients with the nicotine patch) and 3 (smokers) compared with group 1 (non-smokers) [p = 0.0001 for group 2 vs group 1; p = 0.002 for group 3 vs group 1], while there was no statistical difference in the incidence of PONV between smokers and the nicotine patch group (p > 0.05).
There were no significant differences in the number of patients requiring opioids for postoperative pain in the study groups.
Clin Drug Invest. 2007;27(8):559-564. © 2007 Adis Data Information BV
Cite this: Nicotine Patch for the Prevention of Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting - Medscape - Aug 01, 2007.
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