Ondansetron is a new, highly selective 5-HT3 antagonist which has been shown to be highly effective in the prevention of nausea and vomiting induced by cisplatin and non-cisplatin chemotherapy. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of ondansetron
in
preventing nausea and vomiting induced by cisplatin containing chemotherapy regimen. The patients received 8 mg of ondansetron in a slow intravenous infusion 30 minutes before the administration of cisplatin, which has followed by a continous
infusion
of ondansetron for 24 hours at the rate of 1 mg/hour. At the end of the first 24 hours period, ondanseteron was administered as an oral dosage of 8 mg every 8 hours for the next 5 days. Twenty patients(14 men and 6 women) enrolled in this study
whose
mean age was 46 years old. The patients received 40 to 120 mg/㎡of cisplatin (mean 75 mg/㎡).
Nausea was controll din 60% of the patients(none:35%, mild: 25%) and emesis(vomiting and retching) was controlled in 60% of the patients(complete: 35%, major: 25%) on Day 1. On Day 2 to 6, nausea was controlled in 45% of the patients(none: 25%,
mild:
20%) and emesis was controlled in 55%(complete: 25%, major: 30%) of the patients. The side effects of ondansetron were observed in 10 patients with mild headache(25%), chest discomfort(20%), and mild fever(5%). No extrapyramidal symptom was
noted.
These results showed that ondansetron is an effective and safe agent for controlling the nausea and vomiting induced by cisplatin treatment.
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