| Popis: |
The antiemetic ondansetron hydrochloride, a 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor antagonist, was administered to alleviate nausea and vomiting after transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) in 19 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A total of 38 patients (30 men and 8 women), aged 43 to 78 years, with Child-A—type hepatitis C virus-antibody—positive hepatic cirrhosis and concurrent HCC participated in this study. Patients were randomly divided into two equal groups. All 38 patients underwent TAE with doxorubicin, mitomycin C, lipiodol, and gelatin sponge. In addition, patients in group A received three 5-mg doses of ondansetron hydrochloride intravenously, administered immediately after TAE and on post-TAE days 1 and 2. Patients in group B were controls. The attending physician and nurses evaluated patients' degree of nausea and vomiting using a nausea scale from 1 (no nausea) to 5 (nausea and vomiting). The incidence of vomiting in group A was significantly lower on the day of TAE than that in group B, 1 patient (5%) versus 6 patients (32%), respectively. The mean nausea score for patients in group A (1.79) was also significantly lower than that for patients in group B (2.58). The effectiveness of ondansetron hydrochloride compared with placebo was superior immediately after TAE and on post-TAE day 1; no patients in either group complained of nausea on post-TAE day 2. Our findings suggest that ondansetron hydrochloride alleviates post-TAE nausea and vomiting in patients with HCC. |
