Preventive effect of rikkunshito, traditional Japanese medicine, for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.

Abstract

131 Background: Supportive therapies are being developed for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV). Rikkunshito is a Kanpo medicine, which is a part of traditionally practiced Japanese-based ancient Chinese medicine. It has been reported to be effective against cisplatin-induced anorexia in rats. In the present study, we evaluated the preventive effect of Rikkunshito for CINV in patients receiving high-dose cisplatin. Methods: We selected subjects who received chemotherapy including cisplatin (≥60mg/m2) for gastric or esophageal cancer between April 2010 and August 2012 at our institution. We targeted 20 cases treated without a reduction in the anti-cancer medication in the second course and added 7.5g/day of Rikkunshito, orally administered for seven days, to their second course treatment regimen. All cases were treated with 5-HT3 receptor antagonist and steroid, and palonosetron for the prevention of CINV in their first and second courses. We evaluated the complete response (CR, defined as no emesis and no rescue medication) rate and other toxicity, according to CTCAE v4.0, of the first and second courses. Results: The median age of the patients was 63 years (range, 49–77 years). The chemotherapy regimens were cisplatin + 5-FU in 15 cases with esophageal cancer, cisplatin + S-1 in five cases with gastric cancer. Anorexia in the first course was grade 0/1/2 = 5/11/4, but had been mitigated in the second course to grade 0/1/2 = 12/6/2 (P = 0.042). CR rate was 75.0% in the first course (95% CI, 56.0%–94.0%) and by the second course had improved to 95.0% (95% CI, 85.4%–100%). And about the other major toxicity, there was no significant difference between first and second courses. Conclusions: These results suggest that Rikkunshito has the potential to improve CINV in patients receiving high-dose cisplatin.