Background Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is a common post- operative unpleasant experience and also common following thyroidectomy that may cause for hematoma and post-operative airway obstruction. Several agents have been tried to reduce severity and incidence PONV.This study intended to compare effectiveness of Metoclopramide alone and its combination with Dexamethasone for prevention of PONV after thyroidectomy at Menelik II Hospital.
Methods Prospective cohort study was conducted on 76 American Society of Anesthesiologist (ASA) class I and II, adult patients undergone thyroidectomy. A systematic random sampling was applied to identify sample population through skip interval till required sample size was achieved. Study participants were grouped as Group = M (Metoclopramide alone) and Group = MD (Metoclopramide plus Dexamethasone).Following study participant received either 10 mg Metoclopramide or 5mg Metoclopramide plus 4mg Dexamethasone, PONV was recorded at 6, 12 and 24 hours post operatively. Continuous variables were expressed as mean ± SD or median-IQR as appropriate. Analysis was done by independent two sample t test, Manny Whitney U test and χ2 or fisher exact test. P-Value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
Results The overall incidence of PONV with in the first 24 hours was significantly higher in Group M as compared to Group MD, 24(63.15%) versus 9 (23.68%) respectively with a P-value of < .01. Although difference was insignificant, severity of nausea at 6th, 12th and 24th was still higher in Group M. From side effects, Sedation was significantly lower in Group MD 6 (15.79%) versus 15 (39.47%) with a P-value of <.05. Despite difference was insignificant headache was found higher in Group M 10 (26.31) vs. 6 (10.52) respectively.
Conclusions 5mg Metoclopramide combined with 4mg Dexamethasone has significant effects for prophylaxis of post-operative nausea and vomiting after thyroidectomy. Some side effects of drugs were also significantly reduced in combination group.