Summary
We have selected 123 patients who vomited twice following complete recovery from anaesthesia; these were then treated with anti-emetic drugs. Children and patients with gastric suction were excluded. The incidence of this degree of vomiting was 3.6 per cent. Most of our patients were females. There was a higher incidence of vomiting than expected following caesarian section, ophthalmic surgery, and gynaecological operation but not after abdominal operations. The duration of the operation, the type of anaesthesia, the position oi the patient, and the preoperative medication did not appear to have a significant influence. About 50 per cent of the patients did not vomit after receiving treatment. Of the two main drugs used, prochlorperazine proved to be more effective than trimethobenzamide. In patients where an initial injection of anti-emetic had not abolished vomiting, subsequent treatment with the same drug or with another anti-emetic was less effective. Since vomiting may develop into a major postoperative complication in patients of this last group special attention should be directed to their management and these patients should be taken into consideration when the therapeutic value of an anti-emetic drug is investigated.
Résumé
On a choisi 123 malades qui avaient vomi dekix fois après réveil complet à la suite d’une anesthésie; on les traita alors avec des anti-émétiques. Les enfants et les malades avec une succion gastrique ont été exclus de l’expérience. La fréquence des vomissements a été de 3.6 pour cent. La plupart de nos malades étaient des femmes A la suite de césarienne: de chirurgies ophtalmiques et gynécologiques, la fréquence des vomissements fut plus élevée que celle à laquelle on s’attendait, mais non après les interventions abdominales. Il ne semble pas que la durée de l’opération, le genre d’anesthésie, la position du malade et la prémédication aient exercé une influence marquée. Environ 50 pour cent des malades ne vomirent pas apres raitement. Des deux principaux médicaments employés, la prochlorpérazine s’avéra plus efficace que la triméthobenzamide. Quand une première injection d’-énti-émetique n’a pas arrêté les vomissements, on a constaté qu’un traitement sibséquent avec le même médicament, ou un autre anti-émétique, était encore moins efficace. Comme les vomissements peuvent provoquer des complications post-opératoires sérieuses chez les malades réfractaires aux anti-émétiques, on doit les entourer de soins plus attentifs et se le rappelei quand on recherche la valeur thérapeutique d’un anti-émétique
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Seleny, F.L., Spoerel, W.E. Observations on postoperative vomiting. Can. Anaes. Soc. J. 10, 30–36 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03020158
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03020158