1.Effectiveness of the etiology-based antiemetic recommendations by a palliative care team for nausea in cancer patients
Kengo Imai ; Masayuki Ikenaga ; Tomoyuki Kodama ; Lena Kamura ; Keiko Tamura ; Megumi Takeohara ; Tomoko Takashita ; Tatsuya Morita
Palliative Care Research 2014;9(2):108-113
Purpose: To clarify the effect of a palliative care team intervention for nausea of cancer patients. Methods: The study participants were all cancer patients who were referred to a palliative care team in Yodogawa Christian Hospital in 2010, and had nausea with score 2 or over of the Support Team Assessment Schedule Japanese version (STAS-J). The causes of nausea were classified into 4 categories. Etiology-based antiemetic medications were recommended, and the intensities of nausea were assessed using the STAS-J on the day of referral, and 7 days after. Result: Among 27 patients were recruited for this study, 24 were assessed 7 days after. Nine patients had chemically induced nausea, eight had impaired gastric emptying, four had vestibular and central nervous system disturbance, and three had bowel obstruction. The mean STAS-J score significantly decreased from 3.0 (SD, 0.55) on the day of referral to 1.1 (0.80) after 7 days (p<0.001). Two patients had mild drowsiness. Conclusion: The recommendations of etiology-based antiemetics by the palliative care team may be effective for managing nausea in cancer patients.