It has an incidence of about 25% in adults, with a published range of 5-75%. There are a number of risk factors for PONV. As previously mentioned, antiemetic drugs like ondansetron, dexamethasone, and droperidol are similarly effective, each reducing the patient's risk by 25%.2 Because they work on different receptor classes, their effects are additive.2 Thus, patients at low-to-moderate risk can be given one or two interventions (e.g. Using the patient's risk to tailor antiemetic prophylaxis has been shown to be effective and is thus recommended in expert guidelines.8,9 In doing so, it is important to consider both the patient's risk and the safety and relative efficacy of the available interventions. The probability of PONV, given the presence of the relevant risk factors, is subsequently calculated in a validation dataset. If general anaesthesia is required, total i.v. Older prospective studies reported postoperative retching and vomiting in 11.1%74or nausea and vomiting in 21.1%75of patients after spinal anesthesia. However, there is currently little evidence to support this theory. Figure 1 – Opioid analgesics, such as diamorphine hydrochloride, can induce nausea and vomiting. 2. Last updated: March 25, 2019 Are there other factors contributing to nausea? She vomits approximately twice a day, usually around 10–20 minutes after eating. While the use of nasogastric tubes may increase the incidence of nausea, gastric tube decompression has no effect on PONV. The physiology of PONV is complex and not perfectly understood. T… For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com, Copyright © 2020 The British Journal of Anaesthesia Ltd. Introduction Nausea and vomiting is a common and distressing symptom or side effect in medicine, surgery and following anaesthesia. Tel: +33 5 61 42 46 11 Fax: +33 5 61 42 41 17 E-mail: Search for other works by this author on: Neurokinin-1 receptor antagonists in the prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting, A factorial trial of six interventions for the prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting, Comparison of predictive models for postoperative nausea and vomiting, A prospective evaluation of the POVOC score for the prediction of postoperative vomiting in children, Drugs for preventing postoperative nausea and vomiting, Pharmacologic management of postoperative nausea and vomiting, Stimulation of the wrist acupuncture point P6 for preventing postoperative nausea and vomiting, A risk score-dependent antiemetic approach effectively reduces postoperative nausea and vomiting-a continuous quality improvement initiative, Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia guidelines for the management of postoperative nausea and vomiting, © The Author [2012]. 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