Effect of Acupressure in Pericardium 6 Acupoint on Nausea and Vomiting after General Surgery

Background: Nausea and vomiting are of the most common postoperative complications. Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) can increase the patients’ length of hospital stay, healthcare costs, and perioperative morbidity. Objective: The current study aimed to evaluate the effects of acupressure in preventing PONV in patients who have undergone general surgery with spinal anesthesia. Methods: This single‑blind clinical trial was performed on 70 patients who had undergone general surgery and randomly assigned to an intervention and a control group. In the intervention group, the acupressure wristbands were fastened to one of the patients’ wrist so that the pressing buttons were placed on the Pericardium 6 acupoint. In the control group, the wristbands without pressing buttons were loosely fastened on the desired point. The severity and episodes of nausea and vomiting were measured intraoperatively, 1, 3, and 7 h postoperatively. The data were analyzed via repeated measures analysis, t, and Chi‑square tests. Results: Over time, the intervention significantly decreased the mean of nausea episodes (P < 0.001), nausea severity (P < 0.001), and vomiting episodes (P < 0.001) in the intervention group. In the comparison of the two groups, the repeated measures analysis showed that although after the intervention the values of all the three variables was lower in the intervention group than that of the control group, but these difference were only statistically significant in the episodes and the severity of nausea. Conclusion: The acupressure significantly reduced the severity and episode(s) of postoperative nausea, but it did not affect vomiting.