Association of nefopam use with postoperative nausea and vomiting in gynecological patients receiving prophylactic ramosetron: A retrospective study

Background: Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is a common adverse effect of opioid-based intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV PCA). Nefopam has been considered as a good candidate for inclusion in multimodal analgesia because of its opioid sparing effect, but it can be emetic. This study aims to examine whether the use of nefopam combined with fentanyl in IV PCA was associated with the higher incidence of PONV in patients receiving prophylactic ramosetron after gynecological surgery. Methods: Data from 296 patients who underwent gynecological surgery were retrospectively reviewed. The patients received IV PCA containing either fentanyl 1500 μg and ketorolac 90 mg (Group K) or fentanyl 1500 μg and nefopam 80 mg (Group N). All patients in both groups received 0.3 mg of ramosetron at the end of surgery. The primary outcome measure was the incidence of PONV during the 3-day postoperative period. Results: No difference was observed in the incidence of PONV during the 3-day postoperative period between the two groups. However, the incidence of nausea on postoperative day 2 was significantly higher in Group N (10.3%) than in Group K (2.8%) (P = 0.016). Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that the use of nefopam was not associated with a higher incidence of PONV (adjusted odds ratio, 1.616; 95% confidence interval, 0.952–2.743, P = 0.076). There were no differences in postoperative pain scores between the two groups. Conclusion: The combined use of nefopam with fentanyl in IV PCA was not associated with the higher incidence of PONV compared with the use of ketorolac and fentanyl combination in patients who received ramosetron as PONV prophylactic agent. However, prospective trials are required for a confirmative conclusion.