clinical burden
Clinical burden of CINV
The availability of effective antiemetic treatments
is critical because inadequately controlled CINV
impairs daily functioning and quality of life, increasing
the use of healthcare resources, and can compromise
adherence to anticancer treatment
Meinolf Karthaus MD
Department of Haematology and
Oncology, Staedt, Klinikum
München-Neuperlach, Germany
Chemotherapy-induced
nausea and vomiting (CINV)
is a frequent and debilitating
clinical complication in patients
undergoing cytostatic
chemotherapy. 1 The availability of
effective antiemetic prophylaxis is
critical because inadequately
controlled CINV impairs daily
functioning and quality of life
(QoL), increases the use of
healthcare resources, and can
compromise adherence to
anticancer treatment. 2
Unfortunately, more than 75% of
nurses and physicians
underestimate the incidence of
delayed CINV after both highly
emetogenic chemotherapy (HEC)
and moderately emetogenic
chemotherapy (MEC). 3
The incidence and severity
of nausea and/or vomiting that
patients receiving chemotherapy
experience is influenced by the
drugs used, dosage, regimen and
route of administration, as well as
patient characteristics.
Clinical experience suggests
that the emetogenic potential of
carboplatin might be greater than
previously thought and that there
is potential value in also utilising
a neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist
(NK1 RA) regimen in this setting,
similar to that for cisplatin. 4–9
Overall, approximately
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