EFFICACY OF OLANZAPINE CONTAINING REGIMEN IN PREVENTION OF CHEMOTHERAPY INDUCED NAUSEA AND VOMITING IN PATIENTS OF BREAST CANCER RECEIVING HIGHLY EMETOGENIC CHEMOTHERAPY

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of Olanzapine containing regimen as prophylaxis of Chemotherapy Induced Nausea/Vomiting (CINV) in patients with breast cancer, receiving Highly Ematogenic Chemotherapy (HEC). Study Design: Quasi experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out at department of Medical Oncology, CMH Rawalpindi, from Aug 2015 till Feb 2017. Methodology: After meeting the inclusion/exclusion criteria, 44 patient of breast cancer receiving Doxorubicin and Cyclophosphamide chemotherapy, were equally divided in group A and B. Group A received conventional ondansetron IV (8mg), dexamethasone IV (8mg) and Zantac IV (50mg) on day 0 (30 min before chemotherapy) with ondansetron PO (8mg) BD on day 1 and 2, while group B received olanzapine PO (10mg), dexamethasone IV (8mg) and ondansetron IV (8mg) on day 0 with olanzapine PO (10mg) OD on day 1 and 2. Nausea / vomiting scores were calculated in each patient from Day 0 till Day 6. Any episode of rescue medication was also recorded for control of breakthrough nausea/vomiting. The primary efficacy point was to compare complete response between 2 groups, where complete response was defined as Nausea score <2, Vomiting score 0 and no use of rescue medications. Results: Twenty out of 22 patients (90.9%) showed a complete response in group B, whereas only 8 (36.4%) out of 22 (36.4%) patients showed complete response in group A. Conclusion: Olanzapine containing regimen has shown better efficacy than conventional CINV prophylaxis regimen for patients receiving HEC in breast cancer.