Comparison of the Efficacy of Ondansetron and Granisetron to Prevent Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting After Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Our purpose was to assess the prophylactic antiemetic effects of ondansetron versus granisetron for laparoscopic cholecystectomy. METHODS: We searched Medline, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PubMed, Embase, Science Citation Index Expanded, Foreign Medical Journal Full-Text Service, China National Knowledge Infrastructure Whole Article Database, Chinese Biomedical Database, and the Google Scholar. We calculated the risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for dichotomous data. The χ(2) test and I(2) value were used to assess heterogeneity. RESULTS: The merged early incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) in ondansetron group (42.9%) was higher than granisetron group (34.3%) (RR = 1.25, 95% CI, 0.82-1.92, P=0.31, I(2) = 48%). The merged total incidence of PONV in ondansetron group (38.7%) was higher than granisetron group (34.2%) (RR = 1.13, 95% CI, 0.82-1.56, P = 0.46, I(2) = 39%), although these differences were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Ondansetron is equivalent to granisetron for preventing early and total incidence of PONV after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.