Abstract

Background: Neurokinin-1 receptor antagonists are playing a major advance in Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting (CINV) as powerful prophylactic agents. Therefore, it is significant to find the association between risk factors of patients and CINV so as to adjust the anti-emetic regimens.

Objective: To evaluate the role of Neurokinin-1 Receptor (NK-1R) antagonist in preventing chemotherapy-induced vomiting in the acute and delayed phases following the first cycle of treatment.

Methods: 145 adult patients with various cancers were recruited in Shanghai Changhai Hospital between September 2017 to November 2017, receiving dual or triple antiemetics.

Results: NK-1R antagonist combined with dexamethasone, 5-HT3R antagonist could effectively control delayed- vomiting in patients after Cycle 1 chemotherapy treatment (4.1% vs. 15.6%, P = 0.041<; 0.05). This study also showed that a history of motion sickness was a predictor of chemotherapy-induced vomiting (CINV) (P = 0.023 <; 0.05). In delayed phase a low consumption of alcohol and history of CIV for males were also significantly associated with CINV (P = 0.036 <; 0.05 and P = 0.002 <; 0.05 respectively).

Conclusion: In this study, we found that triple anti-emetic regimen with NK-1R antagonist could effectively prevent the delayed-vomiting than dual agents. Moreover, some risk factors were observed to be associated with CINV in the delayed phase.

Keywords: Chemotherapy, adverse effect, nausea, vomiting, antiemetic, neurokinin-1 receptor.

Graphical Abstract