Efficacy of Premedication Protocol without Ranitidine for Taxane Regimen: A Multicenter Non-Randomized Historical Controlled Study.

OBJECTIVE: To study the efficacy of the prevention of immediate hypersensitivity reactions (HSRs) from omitting ranitidine in the premedication protocol in patients who had chemotherapy with taxane regimen. METHODS: This was a Multicenter, Ambispective Non-Randomized Historical Controlled Cohort Study. The incidence of HSRs in the patients who had the modified premedication without ranitidine were collected to compare with the historical group who had the standard premedication protocol with ranitidine. The relationships of each HSRs in the experimental group were compared with the historical control group using a multilevel regression analysis with the random-effects model. RESULT: A total of 441 patients were enrolled and analyzed in this study. 221 patients received the modified premedication protocol compared with 220 patients who received the standard premedication protocol in the historical group. HSRs were observed in 6 of 768 cycles of chemotherapy (0.78%) in a group of patients with the modified premedication protocol. Moreover, it was found in 4 of 761 cycles of chemotherapy (0.52%) in a group of patients with the standard premedication protocol. When comparing the relationship of the HSRs incidence between the groups using multilevel regression analysis with the random-effects model, there were no differences with a statistical significance (regression coefficients = 0.008, p-value = 0.30). CONCLUSION: The results of the study comprised evidence-based medicine supporting the safety of omitting ranitidine from the premedication protocol for the patients who had a taxane regimen and had a similar rate of HSRs to the use of ranitidine.

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of aprepitant versus two dosages of olanzapine with ondansetron plus dexamethasone for prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in patients receiving high-emetogenic chemotherapy.

PURPOSE: We assessed the efficacy of aprepitant (APR) or 10 or 5 mg OLN (OLN10 or OLN5) plus ondansetron and dexamethasone for chemotherapy-induced nausea/vomiting (CINV) prophylaxis in patients receiving high-emetogenic chemotherapy (HEC). METHODS: Patients who received doxorubicin + cyclophosphamide or cisplatin were given intravenous ondansetron and dexamethasone prior to chemotherapy and oral dexamethasone on days 2-4 and randomized 1:1:1 to receive APR125 on day 1 and APR80 on days 2-3 or OLN10 or OLN5 on days 1-4. Matched placebo controls were used. The primary endpoint was no nausea in ≤ 120 h. Secondary endpoints included CINV severity, complete response (CR) rate, adverse effects (AE), and quality of life. RESULTS: Of 141 patients, 104 received AC and 37 received cisplatin. The no-nausea rates were 33% (APR), 43.2% (OLN10; p = 0.24), and 37% (OLN5; p = 0.87). Grades 2-4 nausea were experienced by fewer patients for OLN10 than for APR (24-120 h, 8.7% vs. 27.7%, respectively; p = 0.02; overall period, 19.6% vs. 40.4%, respectively; p = 0.03). The median visual analog scale nausea score from 24 to 120 h was significantly lower for OLN10 (2.3) than for APR (1.2, p = 0.03). The degrees of vomiting, CR, and AE were similar between the APR and OLN10 groups. CINV was similar between the OLN5 and APR groups. CONCLUSIONS: Nausea was less severe for OLN10 than for APR in patients receiving HEC, but other measures were similar. CINV prevention efficacy was comparable between OLN5 and APR.