The efficacy of acupressure to prevent nausea and vomiting in post-operative patients.
BACKGROUND
Post-operative nausea and vomiting is a common complication following general anaesthesia. Traditional Chinese medicine indicates that acupressure therapy may reduce nausea and vomiting in certain ailments.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to examine the effect of stimulating two acupressure points on prevention of post-operative nausea and vomiting.


METHODS
A randomized block experimental design was used. The Rhodes Index of Nausea, Vomiting and Retching (INVR) questionnaire was used as a tool to measure incidence. To control the motion sickness variable, the subjects who underwent functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) under general anaesthesia were randomly assigned to a finger-pressing group, a wrist-band group, and a control group. There were 150 subjects in total with each group consisting of 50 subjects. The acupoints and treatment times were similar in the finger-pressing group and wrist-band pressing group, whereas only conversation was employed in the control group.


RESULTS
Significant differences in the incidence of the post-operative nausea and vomiting were found between the acupressure, wrist-band, and control groups, with a reduction in the incidence rate of nausea from 73.0% to 43.2% and vomiting incidence rate from 90.5% to 42.9% in the former. The amount of vomitus and the degree of discomfort were, respectively, less and lower in the former group.


CONCLUSIONS
In view of the total absence of side-effects in acupressure, its application is worthy of use. This study confirmed the effectiveness of acupressure in preventing post-operative nausea and vomiting.
Department of Medical Research and Education, Veterans General Hospital-Taipei, Taiwan.
Jin-Lain
JL
Ming
Benjamin Ing-Tiau
BI
Kuo
Jaung-Geng
JG
Lin
Li-Chan
LC
Lin
D019050:Acupressure; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020250:Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D016896:Treatment Outcome