Debasis Bandyopadhyay1 , Utpal Kumar Ray2
BACKGROUND Post-Operative Nausea and Vomiting (PONV), is one of the most common and distressing adverse events experienced by patients after an anaesthesia and surgery. It may prolong recovery, delay patient discharge and increase hospital costs. PONV is common after laparoscopic cholecystectomy with a high incidence of 40-75%. In this study, we used conventional 5-HT3 receptor antagonist ondansetron and a newer 5-HT3 receptor antagonist, Ramosetron as a prophylaxis for PONV after laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) under general anaesthesia in two different groups of patients and we compared the efficacy and tolerability of the two drugs. This study was carried out to compare the efficacy of Ramosetron and Ondansetron in preventing PONV after laparoscopic cholecystectomy under general anaesthesia. METHODS This is a prospective randomized controlled study conducted among 124 adultpatients of either sex, aged between 25 and 55 yrs., of ASA physical status 1 and ii scheduled for laparoscopic cholecystectomy, who were randomly allocated into Group A (n=62) receiving (IV) Ondansetron (4 mg) and group B (n=62) receiving IV Ramosetron (0.3 mg) prior to the induction of general anaesthesia in a doubleblind manner. Episodes of PONV were noted at 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 12 hours postoperatively. RESULTS Statistically significant difference between Groups A and B (p<0.05) was found showing that Ramosetron was superior to Ondansetron as antiemetic with regard to frequency and severity. CONCLUSIONS It was evident that preoperative prophylactic administration of single dose IV Ramosetron (0.3 mg) has a better efficacy than single dose IV ondansetron (4 mg) in reducing the episodes of PONV over 12 hrs postoperatively in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy under general anaesthesia.
