PROPHYLACTIC INTRAVENOUS ONDANSETRON IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING CATARACT-EXTRACTION UNDER GENERAL-ANESTHESIA

During the past decade the demand for outpatient surgery has grown rap idly. Postoperative nausea and vomiting is one of the more common unde sirable consequences of surgery, which may significantly delay the pat ient's discharge from the ambulatory surgery center. None of the curre ntly used antiemetic drugs is considered totally effective in abolishi ng nausea or vomiting. The purpose of this study was to compare the ef ficacy of ondansetron, a highly selective 5-hydroxy-tryptamine subtype -3 receptor antagonist, with that of metoclopramide for the prevention of postoperative emesis in patients undergoing cataract surgery. The incidence of postoperative nausea was significantly less in the ondans etron group than that in the metoclopramide group (p = 0.046). Althoug h the incidence of vomiting was clinically less frequent in the ondans etron group, there were no significant differences between both treatm ent groups. To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate t hat ondansetron is effective to prevent postoperative emesis after ext racapsular cataract extraction.