Complications Following the Use of Prochlorperazine (Compazine) as an Antiemetic

Introduction  Vomiting, as a manifestation either of acute infection or of other illness, is a very common problem in pediatric practice, and a variety of agents have been used in an attempt to control this symptom. In the past few years certain phenothiazine derivatives have been demonstrated to exert very definite antiemetic effects. Chlorpromazine has been evaluated by clinical trial in several studies in both adults^1-3 and children^4,5 and has been found to be a very effective antiemetic but to be accompanied in an occasional case by undesirable side-reactions. These have included somnolence, Parkinsonism, hypotension, agranulocytosis, and jaundice. More recently, prochlorperazine, a related phenothiazine derivative, has been similarly shown to be very effective as an antiemetic⁶ and has been widely used for the control of vomiting in infants and children. It was hoped that the unpleasant side-effects might be less common. In general, it would appear that