[Effect of steroid on antiemetic for side effect of anticancer chemotherapy]

The side effect of anticancer agents such as nausea and vomiting frequently interrupt chemotherapy. To reduce these side effects, 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT3) receptor antagonist or metoclopramide is administered combined with steroid. In this study, we examined the effect of 5-HT3 receptor antagonist on the frequency of nausea and vomiting in a male cancer patient treated with/without steroid. This patient in his sixties had esophageal cancer (stage IV). He was administered nedaplatin 100 mg/day for 1 day and then 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) 750 mg/day for 5 days combined with radiotherapy (60 Gy) as one cycle of this chemotherapy. In the first cycle, 5-HT3 receptor antagonist was administered, and in the second, the antagonist was administered after treatment with steroid. The blood levels of total bilirubin, GOT, GPT, BUN, Cre, Na, K and Cl were stable normally during both cycles of the chemotherapy, indicating that the hepatopathy and nephropathy which cause nausea and vomiting did not occur in these periods. The frequency and period of the nausea and vomiting were one-third decreased, respectively, by the combination of 5-HT3 receptor antagonist and steroid.