Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Tropisetron in the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in patients responding poorly to previous conventional antiemetic therapy.
An open, two-armed, multicentre trial was conducted in 231 patients with malignant disease who had previously failed to respond to conventional antiemetic treatment for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Patients were randomized to receive either tropisetron (5 mg/day; n = 115) or a standard antiemetic therapy, which was considered optimal for each individual but did not include a 5-HT3 receptor antagonist (n = 116). Acute vomiting on Day 1 was controlled in 60 (52%) tropisetron patients, compared with only 29 (25%) patients receiving optimal standard therapy (p < 0.001). ⋯ In conclusion, in cases of acute nausea and vomiting it is more effective to switch refractory patients to tropisetron rather than attempt to optimize the dose of standard antiemetic therapy. For delayed nausea and vomiting, combination antiemetic therapy, with differing types of receptor antagonism and corticosteroids may provide the best way forward. Such studies are in progress.
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This state-of-the-art review describes the development, over the past 12 years, of new agents for the control of chemotherapy- and radiotherapy-induced emesis. While the mechanism of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting is still not fully understood, significant progress in prevention of the symptoms has been achieved. The discovery that high-dose metoclopramide was very effective in antiemetic control ultimately led to the development of a new class of antiemetics, the 5-HT3 receptor antagonists, of which tropisetron is the most recent to be introduced. ⋯ The new 5-HT3 receptor antagonists do not demonstrate any of the distressing extrapyramidal reactions so frequently encountered with conventional antiemetics acting at dopamine receptor sites. Mild headache is the most characteristic side effect of this class of agents. The major advantages of the newer 5-HT3 receptor antagonists, such as tropisetron, over the conventional antiemetic regimens are convenience, flexibility and, above all, single-dose usage.
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Tropisetron is a 5-HT3 receptor antagonist which suppresses nausea and vomiting induced by cancer chemotherapeutic agents. In this study, tropisetron was evaluated on a compassionate-need basis in 545 cancer patients who had either proved refractory to antiemetic treatment during previous chemotherapy or who were at high risk of emesis as a result of current therapy. Tropisetron (5 mg or 10 mg) was administered as a 15-minute infusion prior to chemotherapy, with the further possibility of an additional dose, either orally or parenterally, on one or more subsequent days. ⋯ More than 80% of patients with a complete response in Course 1 had a complete response in Course 2 and of the partial responders in Course 1, 37% achieved a complete response in Course 2. Of the 7.6% failures in Course 1, a further 26% achieved a complete response in Course 2. Tropisetron was well tolerated, with adverse effects recorded in only 45 (8%) patients.
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Tropisetron in the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting: the Nordic experience.
An open, non-comparative, Nordic multicenter study was performed during 1991-1992 to evaluate the new 5-HT3 receptor antagonist tropisetron, as an antiemetic agent in various types of cancer chemotherapy. More than 600 patients were recruited from 16 cancer centers in Sweden, Finland and Denmark. In this report an interim analysis on 231 patients is presented. ⋯ Sex and age were significant prognostic factors with regard to antiemetic response. Adverse events were recorded in 19%-36% of the cases during long-term follow-up. Headache (16%) and constipation (5%) were most frequent.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)