Incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting in paediatric ambulatory surgery

Background: We performed a prospective descriptive study over a 5-month period to determine the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) during the first 24 h following elective ambulatory paediatric surgery, excluding head and neck procedures. Methods: Four hundred and seven patients, aged 15 days to 16 years, were analysed prospectively. Results: The incidence of PONV was 9.4%, occurring most frequently during the first 3 h after anaesthesia and in hospital but rarely during the journey home. It was associated with age, previous history of PONV, tracheal intubation or use of the laryngeal mask airway (LMA(TM)), controlled or manual ventilation, opioids and absence of oral intake of liquids or solids. Conversely, type of surgery, premedication, induction mode, association of regional anaesthesia, inhaled nitrous oxide, duration of anaesthesia, stay in the postanaesthesia care unit and duration of journey after discharge were not significantly associated with PONV. Conclusions: PONV never induced complications or delayed patient discharge and curative treatment was rapidly effective.