DR. NEIL SOLOMON : Transdermal Patches

Question: I read with a great deal of interest the item in your column about the use of a skin patch to control seasickness. I would like to know if this kind of patch can be used to control other kinds of nausea. My brother recently had an operation, and everything went very well except that he was nauseous after it was over. Would one of those skin patches have helped him?

Answer: Transdermal scopolamine patches have been used successfully in women who had gynecologic surgery and who were given morphine postoperatively. Twenty-four hours after the operation, women who had been given the transdermal scopolamine patch had significant less nausea and required less anti-nausea medication than did patients who received a placebo.

You didn’t mention the type of surgery your brother had or the cause of the nausea, so I have no way of telling whether he would have been helped by these patches.