Drug may help control nausea unrelated to chemo in patients with advanced cancer

Image courtesy Mayo News Network

CANCER DIGEST – May 8, 2020 – A drug used to treat nervous, emotional and mental conditions, such as schizophrenia, has been shown to be effective in easing nausea and vomiting unrelated to chemotherapy or radiation therapy in cancer patients.

The drug olanzapine was tested by Mayo Clinic researchers in 30 patients with advanced cancer who had not recently undergone chemotherapy or radiation but did have substantial trouble with nausea and vomiting.

"It's well-appreciated by most people that patients receiving cancer chemotherapy suffer from nausea and vomiting," said Dr. Loprinzi in a press release. The Mayo Clinic medical oncologist led the study. "However, it's less well-appreciated that patients with advanced cancer also have significant problems with nausea and vomiting that are unrelated to chemotherapy."

In the study 15 patients received a low-dose of olanzapine and 15 patients received a placebo. Neither patients, nor physicians knew who was receiving the drug. Prior to the study the patients rated their nausea over the previous 24 hours on a scale of 0-10, with 0 being none and 10 being as bad as it could be.

After the study was begun, the patients rated their nausea for the prior day each day. Over an 8-day period the nausea scores for the olanzapine group steadily decreased from 8-10 on day one to 0-3 after one week. Patients in the placebo group still rated their nausea 8-10 after a week.

Dr. Loprinzi said the results suggest that olanzapine may be considered a best practice for treating nausea and vomiting in patients with advanced cancer-associated nausea and vomiting.