European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

A REVIEW ON THE PHARMACOTHERAPY OF CHEMOTHERAPY INDUCED NAUSEA AND VOMITING

Prasad M.* and Ananya Chakraborty

ABSTRACT

Many cancer patients suffer from Chemotherapy Induced Nausea and Vomiting (CINV) while receiving cancer chemotherapy. Most of the times, the severity of CINV incapacitates the patients and leads to deleterious effects on their quality of life. Severity of CINV depends on the emetogenic potential of the anti cancer drugs and patient characteristics. In recent years, new classes of anti-emetic drugs have been introduced for CINV. This was possible because of the advancement in understanding the pathophysiology of CINV, and identification of various mediators. Many guidelines have been framed for prevention and treatment of CINV. These are revised on regular basis with discovery of newer agents. Such guidelines improve the tolerability of patients to chemotherapy and thus their wellbeing, decrease hospital stay and overall cost of treatment. In this review, we provide background information, discovery milestones of anti emetic agents, pathophysiology of CINV, current clinical practices, and challenges in the treatment of CINV.

Keywords: Chemotherapy Induced Nausea and Vomiting, CINV, 5-HT3RA, NK1-Receptor Antagonist.