Cardiovascular stability with rapid intravenous infusion of ondansetron

The acute cardiovascular effects of rapid iv administration of the antiemetic ondansetron, a selective serotonin (5-HT3) receptor antagonist were determined in a randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled study. Measurements of heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation and respiratory rate were made preoperatively over a five-minute period which followed a two-minute infusion of the medication. Intraoperative and postoperative data were not collected. None of the variables recorded changed significantly during the infusion or in the observation period which followed. Within the limitations of this study, we detected no cardiovascular change in the five minutes between the end of the drug infusion and the induction of anaesthesia.