2020 Volume 32 Issue 1 Pages 103-111
Pentazocine is an intravenously administered preoperative analgesic, but patients occasionally experience nausea and vomiting as an adverse reaction to this drug. As nausea and vomiting may interfere with the patient’s postoperative rest, prevention of the reaction is necessary. This study aimed to survey postoperative nausea and vomiting（PONV）caused by pentazocine administered for catheter ablation. Patients receiving catheter ablation often experience pain during venipuncture and radiofrequency application, thus they are frequently placed under mild to deep sedation. Patients who underwent catheter ablation between February and July 2016 were analyzed retrospectively. The preoperative analgesic dose and PONV were assessed. In total, 256 subjects（177 males, mean age: 65.3±12.9 years）were analyzed of which 185（72.3％）underwent atrial fibrillation ablation. Of these, 134 subjects（52.3％）were administered 15mg pentazocine and 122 subjects（47.7％）were administered 30mg pentazocine, preoperatively. Patients who required additional sedative administration, as determined by the physician, during the procedure received either dexmedetomidine（205 subjects; 80.1％）or thiopental（218 subjects; 85.2％）. Investigation of postoperative nausea revealed that 8 subjects in the 15mg group（6.0％）and 21 subjects in the 30mg group（17.2％）experienced nausea, a significantly higher percentage in the 30mg group（p＝0.005）. Analysis of postoperative vomiting shows that 6 subjects in the 15mg group（4.5％）and 14 subjects in the 30mg group（11.5％）experienced postoperative vomiting, indicating a higher percentage in the 30mg group（p＝0.04）. Furthermore, the data indicate that being female is also an independent indicator of PONV. The results of this study suggest a relationship between pentazocine dose and PONV and that the incidence of PONV is directly related to an increased pentazocine dose.
