Volume 24, Issue 103, May - June, 2020

Effectiveness of antiemetics in the control of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in a tertiary care hospital in Saudi Arabia

Wael Mansy¹, Haya Al-Salloum², Talal Mohammed Alnahas³, Fowad Khurshid¹, Hussain Abdulrahman Al-Omar^1♦

¹Department of Clinical Pharmacy (Mansy,Khurshid, Al-Omar), College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2457 Riyadh, 11451 Saudi Arabia.
²Department of Pharmacy, King Saud University Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
³College of Medicine, Imam Mohammed Bin Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

^♦Corresponding author
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Email: halomar@ksu.edu.sa

ABSTRACT

Background: Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) is one of the most feared sequelae of cancer pharmacotherapy. Despite advancements in antiemetic treatment, CINV is still a critical issue in patients treated with chemotherapy. Objective: To assess the effectiveness of currently prescribed antiemetic regimens used against CINV in adult cancer patients undergoing their first cycle of chemotherapy in a tertiary care hospital in Saudi Arabia. Methods: This was a prospective, observational, cross-sectional, patient survey study, conducted in the university oncology center of King Saud University Medical City (KSUMC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Results: The sample consisted of 47 cancer patients with a mean age of 53.1 years (±17.4). Ovarian (n= 23; 48.9%) and breast cancer (n= 9; 19.2%) were the two most common diagnoses. Among the patients who received chemotherapy, 6 (12.8%) received monotherapy and 41 (87.2%) received combination therapy. In combination therapy, the majority of the patients (n=21; 44.7%) received paclitaxel plus carboplatin. In terms of antiemetics used, 32 patients (68.1 %) received 4 classes of antiemetics, 9 (19.2%) received 3 classes and 5 (10.6%) received 2 classes as part of combination therapy; only 1 patient (2.1%) received an antiemetic as part of monotherapy. Incidences of vomiting were much more frequent in the delayed phase than during the acute phase. Conclusion: The antiemetics’ effectiveness at preventing CINV was questionable, as patients enrolled in this study continued to have nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapeutic protocols even with the antiemetic treatment administered.

Keywords: chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting; Saudi Arabia; antiemetics

Medical Science, 2020, 24(103), 1103-1110

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