[Incidence of emesis in outpatients on chemotherapy for breast cancer and the clinical efficacy of ondansetron hydrochloride tablets].

The incidence of nausea and vomiting was investigated for a maximum of 7 days in 32 breast cancer patients receiving CAF (cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, 5-fluorouracil) and CMF (cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil) therapies. For those patients who experienced nausea and vomiting, 4 mg/day of ondansetron hydrochloride (OND) in tablet form was given in the next course of the chemotherapy, and the anti-emetic effect of the drug was examined. During the observation period, nausea was seen in 17.2-50.0% of the patients and vomiting in 3.1-15.6%. The number of patients who had nausea and vomiting was 22. The anti-emetic effect was examined in 18 out of 22 cases with nausea and vomiting. An anti-emetic effect based on the judgement criterion (efficacy rate) was seen in 94.4% or more of patients for all the days of observation. A marked effect was seen in higher proportion of patients. In conclusion, nausea and vomiting occurred in 17.2-50.0% of the breast cancer patients on chemotherapy (CAF and CMF therapies). To improve the QOL of those patients, anti-emetic treatment using OND tablets as necessary is considered to be effective.