title: Intraoperative haloperidol does not improve quality of recovery and postoperative analgesia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Haloperidol has an established role in nausea and vomiting prophylaxis and possible effects on multiple aspects of postoperative recovery including pain and sedation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of low-dose intraoperative intravenous haloperidol on quality of recovery (QoR) and pain control after general anesthesia and surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety eight American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status I-II patients undergoing elective general, gynecologic or orthopedic surgery under general anesthesia were enrolled. Participants were randomly allocated to receive either haloperidol 2 mg or sterile water intravenously after induction of anesthesia. All patients were given elastometric morphine patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pump for pain control after the surgery. Post-operative QoR was evaluated within 20 min in the recovery room and 6 h post-operatively. Pain intensity and demand for additional analgesic was measured in the 6(th) post-operative hour.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The QoR score in two measurements was not statistically different between the two groups. Haloperidol significantly reduced the nausea in the recovery. The visual analog scale pain score showed that the severity of pain in the haloperidol group was more than the placebo group (4.7 ± 2.4 vs. 3.8 ± 2.5, P = 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Intraoperative small-dose IV haloperidol is effective against post-operative nausea and vomiting with no significant effect on overall QoR. It may also attenuate the analgesic effects of morphine PCA.
authors: Department of Anesthesiology, Persia Research Center, Isfahan, Iran.
authors: Amin
authors: A
authors: Ebneshahidi
authors: Department of Epidemiology, Persia Research Center, Isfahan, Iran.
authors: Mojtaba
authors: M
authors: Akbari
authors: Department of Anesthesiology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Masood
authors: M
authors: Mohseni
keywords: Haloperidol; nausea; pain; quality of recovery; randomized clinical trial