Early Austrian multicenter experience with palonosetron as antiemetic treatment for patients undergoing highly or moderately emetogenic chemotherapy

Summary BACKGROUND: Palonosetron is a new generation 5-HT3-receptor antagonist with a significantly prolonged half-life and a once-a-day administration compared to the conventional setrons. To evaluate the antiemetic efficacy of palonosetron in the daily hospital practice setting, a postmarketing study was carried out in Austria. METHODS: Palonosetron was administered at 0.25 mg on day 1 of each cycle to 135 cancer patients who received moderately or highly emetogenic chemotherapy either as an IV bolus or as a short-term infusion. Two thirds of these patients were females (n = 90), the majority had breast cancer (n = 38) and the majority received cisplatin, carboplatin, anthracyclines, 5-fluorouracil or cyclophosphamide. RESULTS: The complete antiemetic response rate was 68 % overall with 87 % efficacy on day 1 and 72 % efficacy on days 2 to 5. Higher antiemetic response was achieved in male patients, in patients being aged ≥ 50 years, and in chemonaive patients. Twenty-four percent of patients needed rescue medication. Only 1.5 % of patients reported mild adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Palonosetron resulted in high antiemetic efficacy in this study. Female gender and age ≤ 50 years should be particularly considered when the antiemetic regimen is selected.