Effects of Intravenous Dextrose Timing on Postoperative Nausea, Vomiting and Anxiety

Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is a significant issue encountered in surgical patients. This study aims to investigate the effects of dextrose infusion timing on PONV incidence.

Ninety patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy were included in this randomized controlled trial. Patients were assigned to one of three equal groups. In Group I, patients received an infusion of 400 mL of 0.9% saline 2 hours before surgery. In Group D, patients received 400 mL of 5% dextrose at the same infusion rate. Both Groups I and D received 0.9% saline at 10 mL kg^-1 h^-1 during the intraoperative period. In Group DD, patients received 200 mL of 5% dextrose preoperatively and 200 mL intraoperatively. To ensure the total maintenance fluid volume was the same as in the other groups, an infusion of 0.9% saline was administered along with the 200 mL dextrose. The primary outcome in our study was PONV incidence. Secondary outcomes were postoperative pain and anxiety levels.

Postoperative PONV incidence, antiemetic consumption, and anxiety levels were lowest in Group DD, while they were highest in Group I (P < 0.05).

In this study, we found that dextrose infusion reduced the incidence of PONV, antiemetic consumption, and anxiety levels. We observed that administering the same volumes of dextrose in divided doses during the preoperative and intraoperative periods reduced the incidence of PONV and improved anxiety scores compared to sole preoperative dextrose infusion.