Objective To assess the clinical significance of reverse trendelenburg position in preventing postoperative nausea and vomiting(PONV)in thyroid surgery.Methods 110 patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma(PTC) admitted from Feb.2013 to Mar.2014 were prospectively divided into experimental group and the control group according to whether reserve trendelenburg position was adopted.Univariate and multivariate method were used to analyze relations between PONV and surgical position,gender,age,body mass index,hypertension,surgical time,ASA classification,anesthesia,and motion sickness.Results Of the 110 cases of PTC,the incidence of PONV was 16.28％ (7/43) in the experimental group while it was 37.31％ (25/67) in the control group.The difference had statistical significance(P ＜ 0.05).Statistical analysis showed that PONV was related to patients'gender,surgical position,surgical time,and motion sickness,while only surgical position and motion sickness was the independent risk factors.Conclusion Reverse trendelenburg position surgery can help to prevent PONV and promote recovery.