Palonosetron plus dexamethasone for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in patients receiving multiple cycles of multiple-day cisplatin-based chemotherapy

The objective of this study was to assess the antiemetic efficacy and tolerability of palonosetron plus dexamethasone in patients receiving multiple cycles of multiple-day cisplatin-based chemotherapy.Eighty-one chemotherapy-naive adult patients undergoing multiple-day cisplatin-based chemotherapy for solid cancer,received palonosetron and dexamethasone.Nausea-free rate during overall periods,no emesis rate during multiple cycles chemotherapy and safety were evaluated.Eighty-one patients received a total of 247 cycles of 3-day cisplatin-based chemotherapy.In cycle 1,Nausea-free rate in the overall(days1-8) periods was 28.4%(23/81).No emesis rate was 46.9%(38/81) in the acute(days1-3) phase,76.5%(62/81) in the delayed(days 4-8) phase,respectively.This antiemetic regimen was safe and well-tolerated.The most commonly treatment-related side effects were constipation(25.9%),hiccups(23.4%),fatigue(13.6%) and headache(11.1%).The rate of no emesis during cycle 1 to 6 was 45.7%(37/81),36.1%(22/61),32.6%(15/46),27.3%(9/33),23.1%(3/13) and 23.1%(3/13),respectively.This study shows that palonosetron in combination with dexamethasone is safe and it can effectively prevents chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in patients treated with multiple-day cisplatin-based chemotherapy but the efficacy can not maintain during multiple cycles.