Effect of intravenous scopolamine before stapling, on postoperative nausea and vomiting in sleeve gastrectomy...

Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is a common complication of general anesthesia that is further potentiated in an obese patient undergoing a bariatric procedure. Literature shows trials of myriad of drugs used alone or in combination, as a prophylaxis for this cohort of patients with varied benefits.

The objective of the study was to determine the effect of intravenous scopolamine prior to stapling in obese patients undergoing sleeve gastrectomy.

A prospective randomized controlled trial of consecutive patients with BMI > 35 kg/m², undergoing laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) was performed after approval of the hospital's ethical committee, explanation of trial to the patients and obtaining a consent. Patients were randomized into two groups; patients receiving intravenous scopolamine just before firing first stapler (Group 1) and patients receiving placebo (Group 2). Primary outcome parameter was PONV. The secondary outcome parameters were use of rescue antiemetic and time to oral intake.

In our study, out of 100 cases of patients undergoing LSG, 50 received scopolamine before stapling and 50 were assigned to the control group. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of PONV. The group receiving scopolamine had lesser use of rescue antiemetic but no difference in time to oral intake.

We concluded that incidence of PONV in obese patients undergoing LSG is not affected by scopolamine. Further trials are needed to validate the results.