dos Santos, L.V., Souza, F.H., Brunetto, A.T., Sasse, A.D., & da Silveira Nogueira Lima, J.P. (2012). Neurokinin-1 receptor antagonists for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting: A systematic review. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 104(17), 1280–1292.
To evaluate the overall effectiveness and safety of neurokinin 1 (NK1) receptor antagonists (RAs) in the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) when compared to standard antiemetic regimens including a 5-HT3 RA plus dexamethasone
Databases searched were MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Central), and Latin American and Carribean Health Sciences Literature (LILACS).
Search keywords were neurokinin, aprepitant, casopitant, ezlopitant, netupitant, vestipitant, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, nausea in cancer patients, vomiting in cancer patients, and randomized trials.
Studies were included in the review if they
No specific exclusion criteria were identified.
A total of 4,034 references were retrieved.
Two reviewers assessed the quality of each study. Items from Delphi list and Jadad score were utilized for data extraction; however, the authors did not describe if any specific scoring system was used for quality assessment.
All patients were in active antitumor treatment.
The addition of an NK1 RA increased CINV control in the acute, delayed, and overall phases.
The use of an NK1 RA may be associated with a statistically significant increase in the risk of severe infection. A more comprehensive evaluation of the safety profile of NK1 RAs and additional appraisal of specific data from RCTs is needed.