Prospective observational study on chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) for colorectal cancer patients by the CINV study group of Japan.

Abstract

652 Background: The aim of this study is to investigate the incidence of Chemotherapy Induced Nausea and Vomiting (CINV) among moderately emetogenic chemotherapy-naive patients with colorectal cancer. We also assessed whether the medical staff accurately recognized the incidence of CINV in their own practices. Methods: A prospective observational study of patients receiving the first cycle of oxaliplatin or irinotecan-based chemotherapy was performed. A 7-day diary for CINV was provided to the patients prior to chemotherapy to record daily incidence of CINV. Observed incidence rates of acute (day1) and delayed (days 2-7) CINV were compared with medical staff's predictions. Results: A total of 191 patients (110 males and 81 females) were registered during the period from April 2011 to December 2012. All patients were treated with oxaliplatin-based (n = 175) or irinotecan-based chemotherapy (n = 16). Acute vomiting was observed in 4 patients (2.1%), while delayed vomiting was observed in 19 patients (10.0%). Acute nausea occurred in 14 patients (7.3%), while 63 patients (33%) were affected by delayed nausea. Irinotecan significantly induced acute nausea more frequently than oxaliplatin did (p = 0.019). The presence of motion sickness was significantly associated with the incidence of acute nausea (p < 0.001) and vomiting (p = 0.003). Antiemetics were given along the guideline to all patients. 58 patients were administered a neurokinin-1 (NK1) receptor antagonist. Patients with NK-1 receptor antagonist showed significantly less incidence of delayed vomiting than patients without one (3% vs 13%, p = 0.048). 30 patients (15.7%) required rescue antiemetics. The staff had estimated the incidence of acute CINV in 91 patients (47.6%). However, only 14 patients (7.3%) really experienced acute CINV. Conclusions: CINV seems to be controllable with appropriate management, but delayed CINV still remains an important problem to be targeted. The presence of motion sickness should be affected by efficient antiemetic management. The extent of CINV in this patient group seems to be overestimated.