Efficacy of olanzapine containing regimen in prevention of chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting in patients of breast cancer receiving highly emetogenic chemotherapy

Objective

To investigate the efficacy of Olanzapine containing regimen as prophylaxis of Chemotherapy Induced Nausea/Vomiting (CINV) in patients with breast cancer, receiving Highly Ematogenic Chemotherapy (HEC). Study Design: Quasi experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out at department of Medical Oncology, CMH Rawalpindi, from Aug 2015 till Feb 2017. Methodology: After meeting the inclusion/exclusion criteria, 44 patient of breast cancer receiving Doxorubicin and Cyclophosphamide chemotherapy, were equally divided in group A and B. Group A received conventional ondansetron IV (8mg), dexamethasone IV (8mg) and Zantac IV (50mg) on day 0 (30 min before chemotherapy) with ondansetron PO (8mg) BD on day 1 and 2, while group B received olanzapine PO (10mg), dexamethasone IV (8mg) and ondansetron IV (8mg) on day 0 with olanzapine PO (10mg) OD on day 1 and 2. Nausea / vomiting scores were calculated in each patient from Day 0 till Day 6. Any episode of rescue medication was also recorded for control of breakthrough nausea/vomiting. The primary efficacy point was to compare complete response between 2 groups, where complete response was defined as Nausea score <2, Vomiting score 0 and no use of rescue medications.