Articles: nausea.
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The effects of acupuncture on health are generally hard to assess. Stimulation of the P6 acupuncture point is used to obtain an antiemetic effect and this provides an excellent model to study the efficacy of acupuncture. Thirty-three controlled trials have been published worldwide in which the P6 acupuncture point was stimulated for treatment of nausea and/or vomiting associated with chemotherapy, pregnancy, or surgery. ⋯ The reviewed papers showed consistent results across different investigators, different groups of patients, and different forms of acupuncture point stimulation. Except when administered under anaesthesia, P6 acupuncture point stimulation seems to be an effective antiemetic technique. Researchers are faced with a choice between deciding that acupuncture does have specific effects, and changing from 'Does acupuncture work?' to a set of more practical questions; or deciding that the evidence on P6 antiemesis does not provide sufficient proof, and specifying what would constitute acceptable evidence.
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Anasthesiol Intensivmed Notfallmed Schmerzther · May 1996
Review[Prevention and treatment of postoperative nausea and vomiting with 5-HT3-receptor blockers].
Since there continues to be a high incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting associated with many types of surgery, and the standard antiemetics often do not achieve satisfactory results, there have been attempts to use the 5-HT3 antagonists. This group of substances is relatively new, but has already been used successfully as an antiemetic during chemotherapy. To date, results are on hand for four different 5-HT3 receptor blockers: ondansetron, tropisetron, granisetron and dolasetron. ⋯ The entire group is well tolerated: only occasional and minor side effects have been reported. Even though not all the hopes originally set in the 5-HT3 group of antagonists have been fulfilled, progress has nevertheless been achieved. Especially noteworthy points are a positive cost-effectiveness relationship of these drugs and their appropriate use in case of the proper indications.
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The efficacy of granisetron in preventing acute nausea and vomiting during the 24 hours following chemotherapy in patients with cancer is equivalent to that of other serotonin 5-HT3 receptor antagonists (ondansetron and tropisetron) and similar to or greater than that of conventional antiemetic regimens such as metoclopramide plus dexamethasone. Like other 5-HT3 receptor antagonists, granisetron is generally well tolerated by most patients and its antiemetic efficacy is enhanced when used concomitantly with dexamethasone. To date, pharmacoeconomic evaluations of granisetron have involved intravenous administration of the drug to adult patients with cancer receiving single-dose or fractionated chemotherapy of moderate to high emetogenic potential. ⋯ Granisetron also remained more cost effective than ondansetron with variations in the antiemetic dosage regimens, except when the granisetron dosage remained unchanged while the ondansetron dosage was reduced to a single 8mg intravenous dose on each day prior to chemotherapy (and no change in efficacy was assumed). Other economic evaluations suggest that granisetron may be more cost effective than a combined antiemetic regimen of high dose metoclopramide plus dexamethasone, and selected use of granisetron or ondansetron in patients receiving emetogenic chemotherapy can be implemented with relatively small incremental increases to the total cancer treatment budget, albeit with a marked increase in antiemetic acquisition costs. In conclusion, granisetron is an effective and well tolerated agent for the prophylaxis of acute chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, and its selective use in this clinical setting can provide cost-effective antiemetic therapy.
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Review Comparative Study
Risks and benefits of drugs used in the management of postoperative nausea and vomiting.
Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is an age-old problem; more so since the blooming of ambulatory or day surgery centres within the last 2 decades. The aetiology of PONV is multifactorial. The incidence of PONV is usually higher in women and children than in men. ⋯ However, it is almost impossible to pick one agent or one combination as the therapy of choice using the present available data. A patient history of a favourable response to a previously used antiemetic would make that drug the agent of choice. So far, the newcomers, the 5HT3 antagonists, have fewer reported adverse effects.