The Influence of Oral Ginger before Operation on Nausea and Vomiting after Cataract Surgery under General Anesthesia: A double-blind placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial

BACKGROUND: According to Iranian traditional medicine, using safe ginger may contribute to taking less chemical medicines and result in fewer side effects. OBJECTIVE: To determine the influence of using ginger before operation on nausea and vomiting, after cataract surgery under general anesthesia. METHODS: This study was a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial conducted at Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences in 2015. 122 candidates of cataract surgery were randomly allocated in three groups. The first group received a ginger capsule in a single 1 g dose, the second received two separate doses of ginger capsule each containing 500 mg and the third group received placebo capsule before operation. The patients were examined and studied for the level of nausea and occurrence of vomiting for 6 hours after the operation. The intensity of nausea was scored from zero to ten, based upon Visual Analog Scale. SPSS version 20 was used to analyze the data. We used Chi square and Kruskal-Wallis test for the analyses of outcomes. RESULTS: The frequency and intensity of nausea and the frequency of vomiting after operation among those who had taken the ginger capsule in 2 separate 500 mg doses was less than the other 2 groups. This difference was significant (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: As the results of the study indicated, using ginger as safe medicine, which could act complementary to chemical medicines was really useful in reducing the frequency and intensity of nausea and vomiting after cataract surgery. As this study found, the maximum efficiency of ginger was when it had been taken regularly and constantly in separate doses. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial was registered at the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (http://www.irct.ir) with the Irct ID: IRCT2015062122853N1 FUNDING: This research was supported by the research cluster grant (93/132) from Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran.