Efficacy and Safety of Low Dose Steroids for Delayed Nausea Due to Anticancer Agents

A prospective comparative study was conducted to assess the efficacy and safety of low-dose steroids for delayed nausea in patients who had received platinum-based chemotherapy. Out of the 46 patients enrolled as our subjects, 21 were given 2 mg of dexamethasone (dexamethasone group) and 23 received no dexamethasone (control group).All patients enrolled were treated with dexamethasone (8 to 20 mg) and an intravenous 5-HT3 receptor antagonist prior to chemotherapy for the prevention of acute emesis. Following chemotherapy, they assessed themselves for nausea and anorexia for 7 days. When these symptoms were noted, dexamethasone was administered to patients in the dexamethasone group at 2 mg for 4 days. As the results of our study, nausea and anorexia were apparently relieved in the dexamethasone group and prolonged nausea and anorexia occurred in the control group. The nausea scores changed from 0.68 to 0.17 and from 0.70 to 0.72, respectively, in the dexamethasone group and control groups, respectively, and the anorexia scale scores from 1.33 to 0.60 and from 1.44 to 1.51, respectively, in the two groups. In the dexamethasone group, the improvement rate for nausea changed from 34.8% to 57.1% and that for anorexia changed from 17.4% to 71.4%, both significantly higher than in the control group. Though one patient in the dexamethasone group experienced mild heartburn, no other adverse events were observed, indicating that 2 mg of dexamethasone was well tolerated. In conclusion, we consider that low-dose steroid therapy in the early stages maybe clinically effective for delayed nausea.