We compared the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) in patients undergoing orthognathic surgery under total intravenous anesthesia using propofol with and without ondansetron. Data on PONV within 24 hours after surgery, fentanyl and ondansetron dosing, demographic parameters, smoking history, and prior PONV were retrospectively extracted from the medical records of 291 patients. After propensity score matching, 78 patients were included in the ondansetron and control groups. The incidence of PONV was significantly lower in the ondansetron group (21%) than in the control group (36%; P = .033), whereas the incidence of postoperative headache was comparable. Ondansetron effectively reduced PONV without increasing headaches.
Fujioka et al. (Sun,) studied this question.