www.ijbcp.com International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology | February 2017 | Vol 6 | Issue 2 Page 462 IJBCP International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology Print ISSN: 2319-2003 | Online ISSN: 2279-0780 Original Research Article A comparative clinical study of ondansetron and dexamethasone for prevention of postoperative vomiting in pediatric patients undergoing intra abdominal surgery Lalit Mohan 1 , Vinit Kumar Thakur 2 , Prakash Kumar Dubey 3 , Harihar Dikshit 1 , Nitish Kumar 4 , Lalit Kumar 1 * INTRODUCTION The most common and distressing symptoms, which follow anaesthesia and surgery, are emesis and pain. Many patients find it more troublesome than the postoperative pain itself. Compared to adults, paediatric patients are more likely to develop postoperative nausea and vomiting, the incidence of which ranges from 8.9% to 42%. 1 Studies in children are often limited to data on vomiting only and not nausea. The syndrome of nausea, retching and vomiting is known as „sickness‟ and each part of it can be distinguished as a separate entity. 2 PONV (postoperative nausea and vomiting) has been characterized as the “big little problem” by Kapur, and has been common complication for both in patients and out patients undergoing virtually all types of surgical procedures. 3 The consequences of PONV are physical, surgical and anaesthetic complications for patients as well as financial implications for the hospitals or institutions, and it is one of the most common reasons for poor patient satisfaction rating in the postoperative period. 4,5 It is postulated that ondansetron and other 5-HT3 receptor antagonists exerts its antiemetic action both peripherally (vagus and sympathetic nerves) and centrally (CTZ and vomiting ABSTRACT Background: This study aimed to compare the efficacy of intravenous ondansetron and dexamethasone for prevention of post-operative vomiting in pediatric patients whom underwent intra-abdominal surgery at Indira Gandhi institute of medical sciences, Patna. Methods: A total of 40 eligible patients were included in the study. There were 20 patients in group 1 whom received i.v ondansetron (0.1 mg/kg), and 20 patients in group 2 received i.v Dexamethasone (1mg/kg) one minute prior to the induction of anaesthesia. Episodes of postoperative vomiting within first 24 hours of anaesthesia and thereafter in postoperative ward at different intervals was observed and recorded. Results: Complete control of PONV (no emesis, no rescue treatment for 24 hours after administration of study agent) was achieved in 40% of cases in group I, in 42.25% of cases in group II, mild PONV was achieved in 7.5% of cases in group I, in 5.0% of cases in group II, moderate PONV was achieved in 2.5% of cases in group I, in 2.5% of cases in group II, and severe PONV was not found in any of the two group. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups1and 2 in terms of baseline characteristics and postoperative managements. Frequency of postoperative nausea and vomiting experiences were similar between the groups (p>0.05). Conclusions: Single dose ondansetron 0.1 mg/kg and dexamethasone 0.5 mg/kg, given intravenously are equally effective agents for the control of PONV. Both drugs for the same indication do not seem to increase the antiemetic efficacy. Keywords: Dexamethasone, General anaesthesia, Post operative nausea and vomiting (PONV), Pediatric surgery, Ondansetron DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2319-2003.ijbcp20170349 1 Department of Pharmacology, 2 Department of Pediatric Surgery, 3 Department of Anaesthesiology, 4 MBBS student, I.G.I.M.S., Patna, Bihar, India Received: 17 December 2016 Accepted: 07 January 2017 *Correspondence to: Dr. Lalit Kumar, Email: lalit2181@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open- access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non- Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non- commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.