Administration of the cytoprotectant amifostine

This article provides guidelines for the use of amifostine (Ethyol, Alza Pharmaceuticals, Palo Alto, CA, and U.S. Bioscience, Inc., West Conshohocken, PA), a pancytoprotective agent approved for reducing renal toxicity associated with cisplatin administration in patients with advanced ovarian or non-small cell lung cancer. Pretreatment with amifostine reduces the incidence of serious and cumulative chemotherapy-induced toxicities, thus improving quality of life, and allows administration of optimal doses and scheduling of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, translating into improved survival. Practical guidelines for administration of amifostine are provided in an effort to ameliorate emesis, amifostine's principle side effect.