It is not known whether patients with
postoperative nausea and vomiting (
PONV) have delayed gastric emptying compared with patients without
PONV. We compared the perioperative rate of gastric emptying in patients experiencing
PONV with the rate in those without
PONV immediately after
laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Gastric emptying was studied by the
acetaminophen method.
Acetaminophen is not absorbed from the stomach but is rapidly absorbed from the small intestine, and the rate of gastric emptying therefore determines the rate of absorption of
acetaminophen administered into the stomach. Forty patients (ASA physical status I and II) were included in the study. After the induction of
anesthesia, a gastric tube was positioned in the stomach and 1.5 g of
acetaminophen dissolved in 200 mL of water was administered. Venous blood samples for the determination of serum
acetaminophen concentrations were taken before and at 15-min intervals during a period of 180 min after the administration of
acetaminophen. Twenty-six patients experienced
nausea during the first 4 h postoperatively. The other 14 patients had no
nausea. There were no statistically significant differences in the maximal
acetaminophen concentration, the time taken to reach the maximal concentration, or the area under the serum
acetaminophen concentration time curves from 0 to 60, 0-120, and 0-180 min between the groups of patients with or without
PONV. We did not find any relationship between postoperative gastric emptying and
PONV, and therefore gastric emptying is not a predictor of
PONV.
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