2017 Volume 37 Issue 4 Pages 407-417
Postoperative nausea and vomiting（PONV）, the most frequent complication after surgery, may evoke severe morbidities such as postoperative bleeding, aspiration and others. This complication, possibly caused by patient-related, surgical and anesthesia-related aspects, occurs through at least over 5 different neural pathways. Unlike other countries, the indication of effective anti-emetics to prevent or to treat PONV is quite limited in Japan due to little regard to the risk of this significant complication and its high cost. In this article, we reviewed the cause of PONV, known predictors, and promising new predictors. In our country, a more accurate scoring system or high-sensitive and specific biomarkers would be very helpful in preventing PONV by allowing the effective use of prophylactic antiemetic drugs.
