Purpose: Olanzapine has antiemetic activity for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV). The purpose of this retrospective study is to evaluate the efficacy of olanzapine for prevention of CINV in patients with severe nausea resistant to standard antiemetic regimen for highly emetogenic chemotherapy (HEC). Methods: Olanzapine was administered in twenty gynecological cancer patients receiving HEC. They had grade 3 nausea (CTCAE ver.4.0) for the acute (24 hours postchemotherapy) and/or delayed (24-120 hours postchemotherapy) period despite the combined use of 5-HT3 receptor antagonist, NK-1 receptor antagonist, and dexamethasone. Oral olanzapine (5 mg/day) was administered on day -1 prior to chemotherapy and continued for 7 days in combination with standard antiemetic regimen. The nausea control rate (grade 0-1) with olanzapine were evaluated. Results: The nausea control rate improved from 30% to 95% for the acute period, 0% to 95% for the delayed period, and 0% to 90% for the overall period. In each period, the nausea control rate improved significantly (p≤0.001). Grade 0-1 sleepiness was observed but there were no grade 3 or 4 toxicities. Conclusion: In this study, olanzapine combined with the standard antiemetic regimen had good antiemetic activity at both acute and delayed period in most of chemotherapy-naive patients receiving HEC. The efficacy of olanzapine suggested additional improvement in the control of severe CINV resistant to standard antiemetic regimen for HEC.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess whether peritoneal cytology has prognostic significance in uterine cervical cancer. METHODS: Peritoneal cytology was obtained in 228 patients with carcinoma of the uterine cervix (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics [FIGO] stages IB1-IIB) between October 2002 and August 2010. All patients were negative for intraperitoneal disease at the time of their radical hysterectomy. The pathological features and clinical prognosis of cases of positive peritoneal cytology were examined retrospectively. RESULTS: Peritoneal cytology was positive in 9 patients (3.9%). Of these patients, 3/139 (2.2%) had squamous cell carcinoma and 6/89 (6.7%) had adenocarcinoma or adenosquamous carcinoma. One of the 3 patients with squamous cell carcinoma who had positive cytology had a recurrence at the vaginal stump 21 months after radical hysterectomy. All of the 6 patients with adenocarcinoma or adenosquamous carcinoma had disease recurrence during the follow-up period: 3 with peritoneal dissemination and 2 with lymph node metastases. There were significant differences in recurrence-free survival and overall survival between the peritoneal cytology-negative and cytology-positive groups (log-rank p<0.001). Multivariate analysis of prognosis in cervical cancer revealed that peritoneal cytology (p=0.029) and histological type (p=0.004) were independent prognostic factors. CONCLUSION: Positive peritoneal cytology may be associated with a poor prognosis in adenocarcinoma or adenosquamous carcinoma of the uterine cervix. Therefore, the results of peritoneal cytology must be considered in postoperative treatment planning.
Adenocarcinoma ; Carcinoma, Adenosquamous ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Cervix Uteri ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gynecology ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Lymph Nodes ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Obstetrics ; Prognosis* ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms*