Evaluation of Peripheral Versus Central Route of Ondansetron as Pretreatment to Prevent Pain on the Injection of...

We evaluated whether systemic ondansetron was also useful in the attenuation of propofol injection pain similar to ondansetron pretreatment.

Eighty patients were enrolled. Patients in group S received ondansetron 4 mg in saline in the right hand followed 30 min later by 5 mL saline in the left hand along with venous occlusion. Group L patients received 4 mL of saline in the right hand followed by 5 mL 4 mg ondansetron in the left hand after 30 min. Two minutes later the occlusion was released. Patients received one-fourth of the calculated total dose of propofol, and their level of pain was graded on a scale of 0 to 3, with 0 denoting no discomfort. Mean blood pressure and heart rates were also recorded. Continuous variables were checked for normality using Shapiro-Wilks test. Normal continuous variables were expressed as mean standard deviation and non-normal continuous variables were expressed as median interquartile range. T-test for the difference in the mean and paired test were used for normally distributed continuous variable whereas Mann-Whitney U test-Wilcoxon test and sign test were used for non-normally distributed variables. Repeated measure analysis of variance was used for a variable measured over different periods of time to control for the baseline effect on subsequent measures.

Our results demonstrated that both systemic administration 30 min before and local venous pretreatment with ondansetron were equally beneficial in reducing pain during propofol injection.

A systemic administration of ondansetron may play a role in the attenuation of propofol injection pain.