Efficacy of Olanzapine against Nausea and Vomiting in Cancer Patients Receiving Chemotherapy

Nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy not only reduce quality of life but also cause suspension or extension of therapy,or reductions in the dosages of agents used,and influence therapeutic effects.Their control is therefore extremely important.In Olanzapine,one of the multi-acting receptor-targeted antipsychotics,which produce an antimetic effect by acting as an antagonist against multiple receptors related to the mechanism of nausea and vomiting,could be effective in this regard.It is mentioned in the guidelines of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.In the present study,for patients who developed nausea and vomiting in the initial course of chemotherapy,Olanzapine was administered at 2.5 mg/day from the day prior to the 2 nd course of chemotherapy for 7 days.A comparison of acute and delayed nausea and vomiting symptoms between the initial and 2 nd courses of chemotherapy showed that Olanzapine had no additional effect against acute symptoms but for delayed symptoms,there was a significant improvement in the severity and period of nausea and vomiting.In the future,it will be necessary to accumulate data for many cases in order examine the safety of Olanzapine and dosages for it.