Prevention of postoperative intravenous analgesia with fantanyl and complications of nausea and vomiting by dexamethasone and droperidol

Objective To observe the effect of using dexamethasone and droperidol to prevent nausea and vomiting caused by intravenous analgesia after operation with fantanyl. Methods 200 patients who underwent orthopedic operation under general anesthesia were randomly divided into 4 groups, with 50 cases in each group. Control group received 4 mL intravenous injection of normal saline (NS) upon completion of operation; 10 mg droperidol was added to intravenous analgesic solution in droperidol group; Dexamethasone group received 20 mg (4 mL) intravenous injection of dexamethasone upon completion of operation; Group of dexamethasone combined with droperidol received 10 mg (2 mL) intravenous injection of dexamethasone upon completion of operation, and 5 mg droperidol was added to intravenons analgesic solution. Controlled intravenous analgesic solutions for all the patients were added with 1.0 mg fentanyl and 10 mg midazolam. The patients' analgesic effect and incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) were observed within 48 hours after operation. Results The incidence of nausea and vomiting in control group (40%) was apparently higher than that in droperidol group (16%), dexamethasone group (20%) and dexamethason combined with droperidol group (4.0%) (P0.05). The incidence of nausea and vomiting in dexamethasone combined with droperidol group was apparently lower than that in droperidol group (16.0%) and dexamethasone group (20.0%) (P0.05). Conclusions Separate application of dexamethasone and droperidol can decrease the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomithing caused by controlled intravenous analgesia after operation with fentanyl. A combination of the two antiemetics can create a synergy with enhanced effect for preventing postoperative nausea and vomiting.