Do Pharyngeal Packs During Orthognathic Surgery Reduce Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting

Do Pharyngeal Packs During Orthognathic Surgery Reduce Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting. A Prospective Randomized Double Blind Clinical Trial.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether pharyngeal packs can reduce nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing orthognathic surgery.

Post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is one of the most frequent and distressing complications of anesthesia. Patients often rate that PONV is worse than postoperative pain. PONV alone is one of the leading causes for delayed discharge and unpleasant experiments. Although PONV is not always life-threatening, persistent cases can result in dehydration, esophageal rupture, aspiration and potential death. The massive ingested blood and the additional issue of an altered diet (full liquids) due to a short period of jaw immobilization may be associated with a higher prevalence of PONV after orthognathic surgeries. Although most of antiemetic drugs can help prevent PONV, they cannot preclude vomiting resulting from irritating gastrointestinal stimuli such as blood in the stomach. Pharyngeal packs are thought to prevent the ingestion and aspiration of blood, cartilage and bone fragments during oral and maxillofacial surgeries. Whether pharyngeal packs can reduce the incidence of PONV is controversial. It is reported that pharyngeal packs are recommended for the purpose of preventing PONV in nasal surgeries. However, some authors suggest that pharyngeal packs have no impact on PONV or the prevalence of PONV is doubled during routine nasal surgeries. However, the population size in these studies is relatively small and the trials have significant methodological weakness. None of these trials totally addressed the issue of the pharyngeal packs on the PONV following nasal surgeries. Moreover, these studies include different types of nasal surgeries, not all of which can be assumed to have equivalent bleeding potential. Orthognathic surgeries performed maxillary and mandibular osteotomies and are assumed to involve massive blood loss. Orofacial swelling and swallowing blood is common in the early postoperative period after orthognathic surgeries. Whether pharyngeal packs can reduce the swallowing blood and PONV is unknown. Thus, The objective of this study is to determine whether pharyngeal packs can reduce nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing orthognathic surgery.

Following endotracheal intubation, one saline soaked, gauze pharyngeal pack was inserted into the hypopharynx under direct vision using McGill's forceps. The packs were tied to the endotracheal tube and their placements were documented on the scrub nurse's count board.

Following endotracheal intubation, one saline soaked, gauze pharyngeal pack was inserted into the hypopharynx under direct vision using McGill's forceps. The packs were tied to the endotracheal tube and their placements were documented on the scrub nurse's count board.

the incidence and severity of any nausea, emetic episodes (retching or vomiting), or both (i.e., postoperative nausea and vomiting) during the first 24 postoperative hours.

The primary outcome measure was the incidence and severity of any nausea, emetic episodes (retching or vomiting), or both (i.e., postoperative nausea and vomiting) during the first 24 postoperative hours. After the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 24th postoperative hours, trained investigators who were fully blinded to the intraoperative management and random treatment assignments recorded the number of emetic episodes, the volume of vomiting, and the time each one occurred. 0 represented no PONV and 10 represented the most severe PONV possible.

0 represented that patients are not satisfactory with the anesthesia and 10 represented that patients are very satisfactory with the anesthesia

Inclusion Criteria: undergoing elective orthognathic surgery age 18-50 year olds signed informed consent Exclusion Criteria: pregnant women past history of oesophageal surgery, oesophageal varices or stricture, patients who have received antiemetic medication in the 24 hours before surgery emergency surgery prior history of motion sickness and/or PONV, vertigo or migraine headaches