In recent years, there has been an increased interest in using a multimodal approach with combined agents to treat postoperative nausea and vomiting. This study evaluated whether the addition of an oral dose of the neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist casopitant improved the antiemetic efficacy of an intravenous dose of ondansetron hydrochloride.
Methods:
The authors enrolled 702 premenopausal or perimenopausal, nonsmoking, female patients aged 18 –55 yr with a history of postoperative nausea and vomiting and/or motion sickness undergoing a laparoscopic or laparotomic gynecologic surgical procedure or laparoscopic cholecystectomy with general anesthesia. Subjects were randomized to one of five treatment arms: standard ondansetron 4 mg with casopitant at 0, 50, 100, or 150 mg, or 0 mg ondansetron with casopitant at 150 mg (the latter arm was considered an exploratory study group and was included in the safety analysis but not in the efficacy analysis).
