• Y Fujii, H Tanaka, and H Toyooka.
• Department of Anaesthesiology, Toride Kyodo General Hospital, Ibaraki, Japan.
• Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. 1998 Jul 1;42(6):653-7.

BackgroundPostoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is a commonly observed adverse effect of anaesthesia. This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of granisetron administered orally for preventing PONV in female patients undergoing major gynaecological surgery.MethodsIn a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study, 120 patients received orally either placebo or granisetron (1 mg, 2 mg or 4 mg) (n = 30 for each) 1 h before surgery. The same standard general plus regional anaesthetic technique was employed throughout. Postoperatively, during the first 24 h after anaesthesia, the incidence of PONV and adverse events was recorded by nursing staff.ResultsThe incidence of PONV was 47% with placebo, 37% with granisetron 1 mg, 10% with granisetron 2 mg and 10% with granisetron 4 mg (P < 0.05; overall Fisher's exact probability test). No difference in the incidence of adverse events was observed among the groups.ConclusionPreoperative oral granisetron in a minimum dose of 2 mg is effective for preventing PONV after major gynaecological surgery.

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