The Ewha Medical Journal
Ewha Womans University School of Medicine
Original Article

The Antiemetic Effect of Transdermal Scopolamine Following Outpatient Laparoscopy

Jong Hak Kim, Choon Hi Lee

Copyright ⓒ 1992. Ewha Womans University School of Medicine. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Published Online: Jul 24, 2015

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a transdermal scopolamine patch on the incidence and severity of postoperative nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing outpatient laparoscopy.

Transdermal scopolamine patch was placed behind ear the night before surgery in study group. Anesthesia was induced with thiopental(4~5mg/ku iv) and succinylcholine(1.5mg/kg) and maintained with meperidine. valium and N2O(50%) in O2.

The results were as follows :

1) Scopolamine-treated patients had significantly less nausea and vomiting compared with control group. Nausea and/or vomiting was present in 46.4% of the control group but only 18.5% of those getting the scopolamine-treated group.

2) Side effects were more frequent among scopollamine-treated patients than control patients (77.8% vs 32.1%) but were not troublesome The common reported side effects were a dry mouth and dizziness.

In conclusion transdermal scopolamine appears to be an effective antiemetic agent in patients undergoing outpatient laparoscopy.