Abstract
Two hundred and seventy-eight adult chemonaive patients, receiving moderately emetogenic chemotherapy were randomly allocated to receive either intravenous (i.v.) granisetron 3 mg plus i.v. dexamethasone 8 mg or i.v. granisetron 3 mg plus i.v. placebo dexamethasone prior to chemotherapy. Eight-two per cent of all patients recruited were female, and 91% of all patients consumed less than 10 units of alcohol per week, suggesting a study population with an increased risk of nausea and vomiting. In the first 24 h 85% of patients who received granisetron plus dexamethasone were complete responders compared with 75.9% of the patients receiving granisetron alone (P = 0.053). There were statistically significant improvements in complete response over 7 days (P = 0.029) and in the numbers of patients receiving rescue antiemetic (P = 0.0004). Toxicity was minimal with no significant differences between treatment groups. These results confirm the antiemetic activity of granisetron and show that it has an additive effect in combination with dexamethasone.
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Carmichael, J., Bessell, E., Harris, A. et al. Comparison of granisetron alone and granisetron plus dexamethasone in the prophylaxis of cytotoxic-induced emesis. Br J Cancer 70, 1161–1164 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1994.465
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bjc.1994.465
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