Abstract

Introduction and Aim: Tonsillectomy is one of the most commonly used pediatric surgeries. One of the frequent and unpleasant complications after this surgery is nausea and vomiting that happens for many children. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of acupressure in PC6 point on the incidence of nausea and vomiting after tonsillectomy in children.
Methodology: This clinical trial study was conducted on 144 children aged 5-12 years candidates for tonsillectomy. The children were randomly assigned to one of the intervention, control and sham groups. The acupressure was applied on the PC6 point in the intervention group and sham acupressure was done in the sham group. Only routine care was performed in the control group. Data were analyzed by SPSS22 software using descriptive and inferential statistics (Chi-square, Wilcoxon and Kruskal-Wallis).
Results: This study showed that the level of changes in the PONV score of children was significantly higher in the acupressure group (4.23±11.34) compared with the sham (1.23±7.34) and control (1.14±6.56) groups. There was no significant relationship between PONV score and demographic characteristics in children.
Conclusion: The acupressure is a safe and uncomplicated method, and the staff involved in caring for these children can easily take acupressure training courses to use this technique.

Key words: Acupressure, Postoperative nausea and vomiting, Children, Tonsillectomy, Complementary medicine.