Ramosetron Can Help Control Postsurgical Nausea

FRIDAY, Aug. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Ramosetron may be superior to ondansetron in controlling the vomiting and nausea associated with opioid analgesia following surgery, according to research published in the Aug. 1 issue of Spine.

Yong Seon Choi, M.D., of the Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea, and colleagues analyzed data from 94 women undergoing elective lumbar spine surgery. All were at elevated risk for postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), based on the possible risk factors of female gender, non-smoking, use of postoperative opioids and history of motion sickness or PONV. After the surgery, patients randomly received ramosetron or ondansetron along with patient-controlled analgesia with fentanyl.

Six to 24 hours after surgery, moderate to severe nausea occurred significantly more often in the ondansetron group than the ramosetron group (34 percent versus 13 percent), the researchers report. They also found that incidence of vomiting and rescue antiemetic use was higher in the ondansetron group than the ramosetron group (30 percent versus 11 percent, and 28 percent versus 11 percent, respectively), although the use of rescue antiemetic was similar between the groups overall. In addition, overall incidence of nausea was similar between the groups. Postoperative adverse events, particularly headache, were significantly more common in the ondansetron group.

"Ramosetron seems to be a promising agent as a prophylactic antiemetic, even in patients with high susceptibility for developing PONV and its use may be considered in this subset of patients receiving opioid-based IV patient-controlled analgesia," the authors conclude.

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