Psychological adjunct to perioperative antiemesis

In a prospective, randomized study, we have examined the effects of preoperative and preinduction positive suggestion on postoperative emetic sequelae. A total of 226 patients were allocated randomly to receive either positive suggestions or no suggestions. Those patients in the positive suggestion group were told before operation and on induction of anaesthesia that postoperative emetic sequelae would be greatly reduced by the use of two antiemetic drugs. Control patients were simply asked to participate in a study of postoperative well being with no mention of nausea or vomiting. Nausea, vomiting or retching, and antiemetic administration were measured in the first 24 h after operation. Antiemetic administration in the positive suggestion group was 16.5% less than in the control group (P = 0.03) but there was no significant difference between the groups in nausea or vomiting-retching.