Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Nausea and vomiting after methadone pain relief in dogs
By Ryan, A C et al.·Published in Veterinary journal (London, England : 1997)·2022·Anderson Moores Veterinary Specialists, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV) observed in a clinical study designed to assess the analgesic effects of intravenous and subcutaneous methadone in dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
Fifteen dogs undergoing stifle surgery experienced nausea and vomiting after receiving methadone for pain relief. The dogs were given methadone intravenously and then again either intravenously or subcutaneously three hours later. Unfortunately, about one-third of the dogs showed adverse effects like vomiting and hypersalivation. After adjusting the dose, the same negative reactions occurred in the next three dogs, leading to the study's termination. This highlights that methadone can cause nausea and vomiting in dogs, even when combined with effective local anesthesia.
People also search for: dog vomiting after surgery · methadone side effects in dogs · post-operative nausea in dogs
Abstract
Opioids are a key component of multimodal analgesia. Methadone is licensed in Europe for IV, IM and SC use in dogs despite there being no published studies assessing the analgesic efficacy of SC administration. Our intention was to compare the analgesic effect of IV or SC methadone. Fifteen dogs presenting for stifle surgery were administered 0.4 mg/kg methadone IV followed by a randomised 0.0.4 mg/kg methadone IV or SC dose 3 h later. All dogs received ultrasound-guided sciatic and saphenous nerve blocks with bupivacaine prior to surgery. This protocol resulted in opioid adverse effects (hypersalivation, vomiting and/or regurgitation) in 5/15 dogs (33%). Thus, in consultation with the ethical review committee, an otherwise identical protocol using a revised 0.2 mg/kg methadone dose was implemented. In the next three dogs studied, similar opioid adverse effects were found in all three dogs and the study was terminated. This paper highlights the potential for post operative nausea and vomiting (PONV), which may have been induced by methadone when used in combination with efficacious locoregional anaesthesia.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35901924/