Aromatherapy for Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting in Children

Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is one of the most common postoperative complications of general anesthesia occurring after up to 40% of general anesthetics. PONV is an unpleasant experience and can result in secondary complications including wound dehiscence, electrolyte abnormalities and aspiration pneumonia. PONV often causes delayed stays in the postanesthesia care unit and delayed hospital discharge.

The mechanism of PONV is poorly understood. Given the multifactorial nature of nausea and vomiting, standard pharmacological therapy approaches the problem from various pathways. Methods that include antihistaminic therapies such as dimenhydrinate (gravol), antiserotonergic medications such as ondansetron (Zofran) and glucocorticoids (dexamethasone), have been used effectively in different surgical settings to address PONV. They do not work however, without occasional significant side effects such as urinary retention, blurred vision, increased infection rates, headaches and constipation. Given that pharmacological interventions for PONV are not universally effective and have accompanying side effects, there has been recent interest in additional complementary interventions.

Aromatherapy has been used to treat nausea from motion sickness, pregnancy, cancer and pain. In postoperative adults, a recent large adequately powered randomized control trial found aromatherapy resulted in a significant risk reduction of nausea (0.37) when compared with saline. Given the encouraging results of the first adequately powered adult study, the goal is to determine whether PONV is reduced by aromatherapy in the pediatric population. Thus, the primary aim of this study is to determine if aromatherapy is more effective than placebo in the treatment of postoperative nausea in children as a complementary treatment to current postoperative practices.

This research is important as it is the first study to assesses whether aromatherapy can be useful in postoperative nausea treatment for children. The implications of this study could mean an improvement in the health care experience of children who have nausea postoperation and potentially a reduction in rescue antinausea drug use in this population in the future.