Objective: To determine the role of preemptive ondansetron in reducing the incidence of post-operative nausea and vomiting in liver donors.

Design of the Study: It was a randomized controlled trial.

Study Settings: This study was carried out at Department of Anaesthesia and Hepatobiliary Unit, Sheikh Zayed Hospital Lahore from August 2017 to August 2019.

Material and Methods: The study involved 100 male and female patients undergoing surgery for liver donation. These patients were randomly allocated into two arms. Subjects in the experimental group received a single pre-emptive dose of ondansetron before surgery. Outcome variable was incidence of post-operative nausea and vomiting as compared to controls. A written informed consent was obtained from every patient.

Results of the Study: The mean age of the patients was 34.8±9.4 years. We observed a male predominance among these patients with male to female ratio of 1.9:1. The frequency of post-operative nausea (18.0% vs. 36.0%; p-value=0.043) and vomiting (6.0% vs. 24.0%; p-value=0.012) was significantly lower in patients receiving pre-emptive ondansetron.

Conclusion: Preemptive administration of ondansetron substantially reduced the incidence of post-operative nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing surgery for liver donation which advocates preferred use of prophylactic ondansetron among such patients in future practice of donor liver transplant anaesthesia.

Keywords: Liver Donors, Post-Operative Nausea, Post-Operative Vomiting, Ondansetron