Comparison of the Efficacy of Metoclopramide Versus Dexamethasone for the Prevention of Postoperative Nausea Vomiting during General Anesthesia

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy of Metoclopramide versus Dexamethasone for prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting during general anesthesia. Study Design:This is a Randomized control trial (RCT) study. Setting: Study carried out at Department of Anaesthesiology, Surgical Intensive Care Unit and Pain Management, Clinic, Dow University of Health Sciences and Dr. Ruth Pfau Hospital Karachi, from December 2018 to June 2019. Materials and Methods:110 patients undergoing elective surgeries, who fulfilled the inclusion criteria and gave informed consent were included in the study. They were randomly assigned either group M or group D, with 55 patients in each group. All patients were then administered either intravenous dexamethasone (8mg) in group D or intravenous metoclopramide (10mg) in group M at the time of induction of anesthesia. The main outcome measure was postoperative nausea and vomiting, at the end of 6th hour postoperatively. The SPSS version 21 was applied to the data. Results: Majority of the patients 66 (60%) were of age 35 years or less. Mean age of the patients was 35.09 +/- 11.55 years. There were more females than males, with male to female ratio being 1:1.03. Overall, in patients receiving metoclopramide, 12(21.8%) had postoperative nausea and vomiting, while in patients who received dexamethasone, only 4 (7.3%) patients had post-operative nausea and vomiting. When comparing two groups, there was statistically significant (p= 0.02) reduced postoperative nausea/vomiting among those patients who had received intravenous dexamethasone. Conclusion: Intravenous dexamethasone is more effective than Metoclopramide in preventing postoperative nausea and vomiting in patients during general anesthesia.