Efficacy of palonosetron in the management of postoperative nausea vomiting in oral and maxillofacial surgery

OBJECTIVE: The objective is to evaluate the efficacy of prophylactic single intravenous dose of palonosetron in the management of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) following oral and maxillofacial surgical interventions performed through an intraoral approach under general anesthesia (GA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective study was conducted on 100 subjects who underwent intraoral surgical procedures for the management of maxillofacial trauma, pathology, dentofacial anomalies, and deformities under GA. All subjects received a prophylactic single intravenous dose of 0.075 mg palonosetron along with premedication. Predisposing factors for PONV such as patient age, gender, Apfel risk score, history of motion sickness, smoking, type of procedure, and administration of postoperative opioids were taken into consideration. All the patients were monitored for PONV for the 1(st) 24 h postoperatively (PO). First, at an interval of 30 min for 1(st) 4 h and then at every 2 h interval for next 8 h followed by monitoring every 6 h interval till 24 h. Time and frequency of rescue medication were noted. RESULTS: Seventy-nine percentage subjects did not have PONV. 15% subjects had a single episode of vomiting PO which could be attributed to multiple intra oral surgical sites performed as well as longer duration of exposure to anesthetic agents in addition to providing opioid analgesics for the management of postoperative pain. Only 6% subjects needed rescue antiemetic drug. Palonosetron did not show any significant changes in cardiac status and serum profile. CONCLUSION: Palonosetron is effective in the management of PONV for maxillofacial surgical procedures performed through an intraoral approach under GA.