Clinical Oncology Pharmacist/Head of Oncology Department Korle Bu Teaching Hospital Accra, Ghana
Background: Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) has been known to be a major source of distress than cancer in most patients (despite the availability of modern drugs to prevent and manage it) especially in a resource-constrained setting where non-availability of modern and expensive antiemetics is can lead to inadequate prevention and management of the occurrence of CINV.
Objectives: This study was to assess the effectiveness of antiemetic support used to prevent CINV among cancer patients after receiving high-risk intravenous chemotherapy.
Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used and participants were selected using simple random sampling. Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) Antiemesis Tool (MAT) was used to collect the data. The MAT Tool, an eight-scale item scale, helps to facilitate correct communication between cancer patients and healthcare professionals regarding the prevention and control of CINV.
The study was done at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, between January 2022 to June 2022.
The inclusion criteria were adult cancer patients who were taking single or combination intravenous chemotherapy agents with at least one agent classified as high emetic risk (>90% frequency of emesis) by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines Version 2.2017. Acute CINV was prevented using dexamethasone and 5-HT3 receptor antagonists while dexamethasone and dopamine receptor antagonists are used for delayed CINV.
The main outcome of the study was to assess the CINV antiemesis guidelines of the facility.
The data were analyzed using SPSS, version 28 and MAT score.
Results: A sample size of 222 was used for the study. 34.2% and 16.2% of the patients experienced acute nausea and vomiting respectively. The average intensity of delayed nausea was 3 (MAT scale of 0-10) while on average patients vomited 2 times (SD=2.0). 37.4% and 21.6% of the patients experienced delayed nausea and vomiting respectively. The average intensity of the delayed nausea was 3 (MAT scale 0-10 scale) while patients vomited 2 times (SD=2.5). Only 7.7% of the patients experienced both acute and delayed vomiting while 18.9% experienced both acute and delayed nausea. 6.8% of patients ≤ 50 years experienced acute vomiting. There was no association between gender and CINV.
Conclusions: The study concludes that CINV antiemetic guidelines is effective for the prevention of both acute and delayed nausea and vomiting.
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