The Effect of Nicotine Patch on Reducing Nausea, Vomiting, and Pain Following Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: The effect of nicotine on nausea, vomiting, and postoperative pain has been investigated in studies on animals and humans. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of nicotine patch on decreasing nausea, vomiting, and pain in laparoscopic cholecystectomy.Methods: The study sample consisted of ۱۰۰ non-smoking patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy under general anesthesia in a triple-blind clinical trial. One hour after the start of surgery, patients were randomly assigned to receive ۱۷.۵-mg nicotine or placebo patches. The patches located on the right arm were left for ۲۴ hours. The visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain and N/V score for the severity of nausea and vomiting were measured at intervals of ۰, ۶, ۱۲, and ۲۴ hours.Findings: The results showed there was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of pain intensity as well as nausea and vomiting at different time periods after surgery (P>۰.۰۵). A total of ۳۶ patients in the nicotine group and ۲۴ patients in the placebo group received meperidine. There was also no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of analgesics (P=۰.۰۹۶) and antiemetics (P=۰.۱). Moreover, the frequency of severe nausea and vomiting during the study in the nicotine group was higher than in the placebo group (۴ vs. ۱) but this difference was not statistically significant (P>۰.۰۵). Conclusion: Receiving a ۱۷.۵-mg nicotine patch had a similar effect to receiving placebo in controlling postoperative pain, nausea, and vomiting in non-smokers. Nicotine use had no effect on reducing analgesia.

Keywords:

Nicotine , Nausea and Vomiting , Pain , Cholecystectomy , Laparoscopy