Table 5.

Characteristics of studies included in the discussion.

No.	Reference	Surgery type	Intervention	No. of groups	Measured outcome and time	Study design	Results
1	Gan et al. (2)	Open-abdominal surgery under general anesthesia	PO aprepitant 40 mg or PO aprepitant 120 mg or IV ondansetron 4 mg	3	Incidence of vomiting Need for rescue Nausea score Complete response Cumulative incidence for day 1	Multicenter double-blind randomized trial	Complete response was not different between groups Aprepitant groups experienced lower incidence of postoperative vomiting than ondansetron group No significant difference in nausea score and use of rescue between groups No significant differences between the aprepitant groups
2	Tsutsumi and Kakuta (9)	Elective craniotomy under general anesthesia	IV fosaprepitant 150 mg or IV ondansetron 4 mg	2	Incidence of PONV Need for rescue Pain score Cumulative incidence until day 2 with individual values for day 1	Prospective double-blind randomized trial	Fosaprepitant group experienced lower incidence of vomiting than ondansetron group Incidence of complete response higher in fosaprepitant group than ondansetron group
3	Habib et al. (10)	Craniotomy under general anesthesia	PO aprepitant 40 mg or IV ondansetron 4 mg	2	Incidence of vomiting Need for rescue Nausea score Cumulative incidence until day 2 with individual values for day 1	Prospective double-blind randomized trial	Aprepitant group experienced lower incidence of postoperative vomiting Nausea score and need for rescue were not different between groups
4	Rapoport et al. (17)	Moderately emetogenic chemotherapy	PO aprepitant 125 mg, PO ondansetron 8 mg, PO dexamethasone 12 mg prior to chemo, and PO aprepitant 80 mg for 2 days post-chemo or PO ondansetron 8 mg, PO dexamethasone 20 mg prior to chemo and PO ondansetron 8 mg for 2 days post-chemo every 12 h	2	Incidence of vomiting Complete response Cumulative incidence until day 5	Prospective double-blind randomized parallel-group trial	Aprepitant group experienced significantly lower incidence of vomiting for 2 days post-chemo
5	Long et al. (21)	Elective hysterectomy	PO aprepitant 40 mg or placebo	2	Incidence of vomiting Need for rescue Nausea score Cumulative incidence for day 1	Prospective double-blind randomized trial	Trend suggesting reduction in vomiting, nausea score, and need for rescue in aprepitant group compared with placebo group
6	Diemunsch et al. (22)	Open-abdominal surgery under general anesthesia	PO aprepitant 40 mg or PO aprepitant 125 mg or IV ondansetron 4 mg	3	Incidence of vomiting Need for rescue Nausea score Complete response Cumulative incidence until day 2 with individual values for day 1	Double-blind randomized phase III trial	Aprepitant groups non-inferior to ondansetron group for complete response Aprepitant groups superior to ondansetron group in preventing vomiting up to 48 h postoperatively Distribution of peak nausea scores lower in aprepitant groups compared with ondansetron group Similar efficacy between the two aprepitant groups, suggesting a possible plateau in response
7	Ham et al. (23)	Laparoscopic gynecologic surgery	IV 4 mg Ondansetron in combination with PO aprepitant 80 mg or placebo	2	Incidence of PONV Need for rescue Impact of PONV on daily life by FLIE Cumulative incidence until day 2	Prospective double-blind randomized trial	Incidence of PONV within an hour postoperatively was lower in aprepitant group than in placebo group No difference in use of rescue between groups No difference in impact of PONV on daily life between groups
8	Tsutsumi et al. (24)	Craniotomy under general anesthesia	IV 150 mg fosaprepitant or IV 4 mg ondansetron	2	Incidence of PONV Need for rescue Pain score Cumulative incidence until day 2	Prospective double-blind randomized trial	Percentage of patients who experienced vomiting from 0 to 24 h and 0 to 48 h in the fosaprepitant group was lower than in the ondansetron group Complete response rate from 0 to 24 h and 0 to 48 h was greater in the fosaprepitant group than in the ondansetron group No significant difference in incidence of PONV or need for rescue between the groups
9	Shilpa et al. (25)	Thyroidectomy	PO ondansetron 8 mg or PO clonidine 150 μg	2	Incidence of PONV Incidence of sore throat Cumulative incidence for day 1	Prospective double-blind randomized trial	A smaller proportion of patients in the ondansetron group developed PONV than did patients in the clonidine group Moderate sore throat development was the same in both groups
10	Alonso-Damián and Anguiano-García (26)	Open cholecystectomy under general anesthesia	PO aprepitant 80 mg or IV ondansetron 4 mg	2	Incidence of PONV Cumulative incidence for day 1	Prospective double-blind randomized trial	Aprepitant group experienced less postoperative nausea and vomiting than ondansetron group

PO, postoperative; IV, intravenous; PONV, postoperative nausea and vomiting; FLIE, Functional Living Index-Emesis.