[Evaluation of the Usefulness of Pharmaceutical Outpatient Clinic for Gastric Cancer Patients Receiving Capecitabine plus Oxaliplatin as Postoperative Adjuvant Chemotherapy].

Capecitabine plus oxaliplatin(CapeOX)is widely used as postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy for gastric cancer. The CapeOX regimen often causes digestive symptoms, such as nausea and vomiting under postoperative conditions, and oxaliplatin- induced neurological symptoms, for which supportive intervention is needed. The pharmaceutical outpatient clinic of Jichi Medical University provides pharmaceutical intervention for cancer patients. This study evaluated the usefulness of the pharmaceutical outpatient clinic for gastric cancer patients receiving postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. The primary endpoint was defined as the effect of the number of outpatient pharmacist interventions on the relative dose intensity of the CapeOX regimen. The secondary endpoint was the correlation between the number of outpatient pharmacist interventions and the worst grade of each side effect. It was observed that patients who received at least 5 outpatient pharmacist interventions had significantly higher dose intensities(p=0.019). Outpatient pharmaceutical interventions were associated with the reduction of side effect symptoms that could be managed with preventive and supportive care. These results showed that continuous intervention by outpatient pharmacists contribute to the optimization of dose intensity and reduction of side effects in gastric cancer patients receiving CapeOX as postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy.