Abstract
Objectives:
1. To investigate whether acupressure (P6) prevents nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing ear surgery
2. To compare effect and placebo effect of acupressure (P6) in preventing nausea and vomiting in patients who have undergone ear surgery
Methods:
This was double blind randomized study in which sixty patients were enrolled. They were divided into three equal groups. First group received acupressure with bilateral stimulation of P6 (A), second group received bilateral placebo stimulation (P) and a third group received no acupressure stimulation and served as a reference group(R). We observed how many patients developed nausea, vomiting and needed rescue antiemetics in each group
Results:
It is clear from the results that 9,7,6 patients in groups A, P, R respectively developed nausea only while 1, 1 and 8 patients had nausea(8 Vs 1with P <0.05) 24 h after surgery in A, P, R groups respectively. When compared to placebo acupressure (2 patients vomited and 5 needed rescue medication) significantly (P<0.05) fewer needed rescue antiemetic medication after acupressure at P6 (no vomiting and rescue medication). When compared to the reference group (5 vomited and 4 needed rescue medication) significantly fewer vomited after acupressure (P<0.05).
Conclusion:
It has been concluded from our study that acupressure (P6) has significantly reduced vomiting and need of rescue medication in patients undergone ear surgeries. While placebo effect of acupressure decreased nausea 24 h after surgery