ACUPRESSURE FOR THE PROPHYLAXIS OF POSTOPERATIVE NAUSEA AND VOMITING

Despite modern anaesthetic procedures, postoperative nausea and vomiti ng are still the side-effects most often mentioned: acupressure is rep orted to be an additional method of preventing these effects in minor gynaecological surgery. We investigated the effectiveness of acupressu re in patients undergoing gynaecological operations of longer duration (6-8 h) in a verum acupressure group compared to a placebo group. Bef ore beginning the study we investigated a control group to find out th e frequency of emesis. In the worst case of nausea that we encountered , 80 % in the 0-6 h postoperative period, the number of random samples for the acupressure and placebo groups was calculated (30 patients in each group). The error for alpha was established at 5 % and the reduc tion of nausea was 50 %. Methods. The female patients were 18 to 65 ye ars old (ASA group I and II). Acupressure was carried out by fastening small metal bullets at the point P 6 to each forearm by means of an e lastic bandage. The bullets were left there for 24 h. The premedicatio n anaesthesia, postoperative analgesia, and antiemetic treatment were standardized. During a 24-h period we investigated the incidence of na usea and vomiting. Results. The anthropometric data, the duration of s urgery and the amount of postoperative analgesia were comparable betwe en the three groups. Verum acupressure obtained a statistically signif icant and relevant reduction in nausea,up to the 6th postoperative hou r in comparison with the placebo group (P = 0.03). Nausea was reduced from 53 % in the placebo group to 23 % in the acupressure group. Concl usion. As demonstrated in this group of longer gynaecological surgery patients as well as in chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, we we re able to demonstrate that acupressure is an effective method of prev enting nausea and vomiting without any side-effects. It is a valuable addition to the prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting. Furth er studies should be conducted to investigate this possibility further .