Comparison of ondansetron and combination of ondansetron and dexamethasone for prevention of post-operative nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Aim: to compare the frequency of post-operative nausea and vomiting within 24 hours of operation in patients undergoing lap. cholecystectomy administered ondansetron with and without dexamethasone. methods: this randomized control trial was carried out from 1st february 2015 to 30th september 2015. one hundred and sixty four patients of either sex and age ranging from 20 to 60 years undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy were included. both asa grade i and ii patients were randomly distributed in two groups. group a received ondansetron and dexamethasone while in group b only ondansetron was administered i/v. frequency of postop nausea & vomiting was compared. results: twenty two patients (13.4%) were in asa grade i while 142 patients (86.6%) were in grade ii. 43 patients (71.7%) were female while 17 (28.3%) were males. there were ponv 61 patients (37.2%). twenty eight (45.9%) patients out of eighty two from ondansetron group and 33/82 patients (54.1%) from ondansetron plus dexamethasone group developed nausea or vomiting post operatively (p value=0.41). ondansetron & dexamethasone group was more effective as shown by our results in male and younger patients in terms of nausea or vomiting post operatively. conclusion: it is concluded that at current sample size,there is no difference in frequency of post-operative nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy with combination of dexamethasone and ondansetron as compared to ondansetron alone for whole cohort.