Postoperative nausea and vomiting: a comparison of propofol infusion versus isoflurane inhalational technique for laparoscopic patients.

Gynecologic laparoscopic procedures frequently precipitate postoperative nausea and/or vomiting. The use of specific anesthetic agents and premedicants may decrease the incidence. This study determined the occurrence of postoperative nausea/retching/vomiting (N/R/V) when propofol was used for anesthesia maintenance compared with isoflurane when both groups of patients received metoclopramide and ranitidine preoperatively and were induced with propofol. Sixty American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status I or II patients (age 19 to 50 years, weighing 50 to 90 kilograms) who were having elective laparoscopies were evaluated for postoperative N/R/V. No significant difference in the incidence of N/R/V was demonstrated between the propofol and isoflurane groups (P < 0.05). Sixty percent of the patients who received meperidine in the recovery room experienced nausea and/or vomiting. The use of propofol versus isoflurane for maintenance of anesthesia had no effect on the incidence of postoperative N/R/V when patients were premedicated with metoclopramide and ranitidine.