Results
Prophylactic use of concurrent dexamethasone and ramosetron reduced the overall incidence of PONV, rescue antiemetic requirement, and improved the overall complete response during the entire 72-hour evaluation period and reduced the severity of nausea during the first 6-hours. During the whole evaluation period, the incidences of postoperative nausea (24% versus 40%; p = 0.004) and vomiting (7% versus 21%; p = 0.001) (Table 2) were lower in the Dexa-Ra group, and fewer patients in the Dexa-Ra group required rescue antiemetics (17% versus 35%; p = 0.001). More patients in the Dexa-Ra group had a complete response compared with the Ra group (76% versus 60%; p = 0.006) (Table 3). In addition, the severity of nausea was lower in the Dexa-Ra than in the Ra group during the first 6 hours (1.6 versus 2.6; p < 0.001) (Fig. 2). No between-group differences in incidence of PONV or nausea severity were found during the 6- to 72-hour period.