[Postoperative nausea and vomiting]

During the last years huge amounts of literature have been reviewed systematically. Recently, guidelines have been proposed. For the first time a large prospective study has been performed on the effect of combining antiemetics. In this review we try to propose a rational approach to postoperative nausea and vomiting. The scoring of patients at risk, rational anaesthetic agents, prophylactic administration of antiemetics to patients at risk and effective postoperative antiemetic treatment are suggested.