• Anesthesiology · Feb 1999

    Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial

    Ondansetron is effective to treat spinal or epidural morphine-induced pruritus.

    • A Borgeat and H R Stirnemann.
    • Department of Anesthesia, Orthopedic University Clinic of Zurich/Balgrist, Zurich, Switzerland. aborgeat@balgrist.unizh.ch
    • Anesthesiology. 1999 Feb 1;90(2):432-6.

    BackgroundSpinally and epidurally administered morphine is frequently associated with pruritus. Isolated case reports indicate that ondansetron may be effective in this context. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of ondansetron to treat this side effect.MethodsIn a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 100 patients with pruritus (> 4 on a visual analog scale, on which 0 represents no pruritus and 10 represents worst pruritus imaginable) after spinal or epidural administration of morphine, received either 8 mg ondansetron intravenously (ondansetron group) in 100 ml NaCl 0.9% or vehicle (placebo group). A decrease of more than 4 points on the visual analog scale 60 min after treatment was considered a success. Changes in levels of pain and sedation, hemodynamic values, and other side effects were checked regularly. The presence or absence of pruritus was assessed for the last time 24 h later.ResultsThe two groups were similar for demographic characteristics, the route of administration of morphine, and severity of pruritus at the beginning of the study. The ondansetron group showed a success rate of 70% versus 30% for the placebo group (P > 0.05). Among the successfully treated patients, three (9%) in the ondansetron group and six (40%) in the placebo group reported the recurrence of pruritus (P < 0.05). Among the successfully treated patients, none complained of residual pruritus 24 h later. No changes in pain or sedation levels were noted. Hemodynamic values remained stable, hemoglobin oxygen saturation did not decrease, and no other side effects were observed.ConclusionThe administration of 8 mg ondansetron intravenously is an effective treatment for spinally or epidurally administered morphine-induced pruritus. In this clinical condition the treatment is safe and well tolerated.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…