THE PREVENTION OF POSTOPERATIVE NAUSEA AND VOMITING USING A COMBINATION OF ONDANSETRON AND DROPERIDOL

We have studied the effect of combination antiemetic therapy (ondanset ron and droperidol) with morphine delivered by patient-controlled anal gesia following major gynaecological surgery. Sixty patients were rand omly allocated to one of three treatment regimens; ondansetron alone ( 4 mg bolus and 0.13 mg.ml(-1) in the morphine solution), droperidol al one (1.25 mg bolus and 0.05 mg.ml(-1) in the morphine solution), or bo th drugs in combination. For the first 12 postoperative hours, patient s receiving combination therapy experienced significantly less nausea than those receiving single antiemetic therapy (p<0.001). There was no difference between the regimens from 12 to 18 h. We conclude that a c ombination of ondansetron and droperidol added to morphine in a patien t-controlled analgesia system reduces postoperative nausea to a greate r extent than treatment with either drug alone following major gynaeco logical surgery.