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OBJECTIVE: Although nausea and vomiting of pregnancy is the most common medical condition during pregnancy, there are many unanswered questions regarding its cause, epidemiologic features and optimal management. The objectives of this study were to ascertain the prevalence of nausea and vomiting in a sample of Canadian women, to characterize the distribution of their severity and to investigate the role of vitamin B6 deficiency in their etiology. DESIGN: Prospective study. SETTING: Antenatal counselling service for pregnant women. PATIENTS: Three cohorts of women: a prospective, population-based cohort of 193 women, to estimate the rate and severity of nausea and vomiting (cohort A); a cohort of 555 women who sought advice for nausea with or without vomiting, to study the correlation between the maximal daily number of episodes of vomiting and maximal weight loss (cohort B); and a prospective cohort of 301 women who reported vomiting, to correlate vitamin supplementation with vomiting (cohort C). INTERVENTIONS: All 3 cohorts were interviewed during the counselling session, and cohort B was followed up prospectively. OUTCOME MEASURES: Frequency of nausea and vomiting, weight loss, maximal number of daily episodes of vomiting, rate of multivitamin supplementation. RESULTS: Overall, 67% of the women in cohort A reported experiencing nausea or vomiting, or both; 22% reported vomiting, and 9% experienced weight loss. In cohort B there was a significant correlation between the maximal number of daily episodes of vomiting and maximal weight loss, although there was wide variation (r2 = 0.25, p < 0.001). There was a highly significant correlation between the number of daily vomiting episodes and mean weight loss (r2 = 0.99). In cohort C, vomiting was significantly associated with lack of supplementation with multivitamins before 6 weeks' gestation (p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: The relation between number of daily vomiting episodes and mean weight loss may serve as a clinical tool to assess the severity of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy and the success of anti-emetics and rehydration regimens. Further study is needed to elucidate the biologic basis of the observed association between vomiting and lack of multivitamin supplementation in early pregnancy.
The purpose was to measure the effects of postchemotherapy nausea and vomiting (PCNV) on health-related quality of life (HQL) in patients receiving either moderately or highly emetogenic chemotherapy. The study sample consisted of 832 chemotherapy-naive patients with cancer who received either moderately or highly emetogenic chemotherapy as part of multicenter trials of new antiemetics. The patients completed the self-report European Organization for Research and Cancer (EORTC) core Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ-C30) before chemotherapy (baseline) and 1 week (day 8) and 2-4 weeks after chemotherapy. They also completed a self-report nausea and vomiting (NV) diary for 5-7 days after chemotherapy. To determine the effects of PCNV on HQL, the change in scores between the baseline and day 8 HQL assessments was calculated for each domain and symptom in the QLQ-C30 and compared in four subgroups of patients: those with both nausea and vomiting, those with nausea but no vomiting, those with no nausea but with vomiting, and those with neither nausea nor vomiting. The group with both nausea and vomiting showed statistically significantly worse physical, cognitive and social functioning, global quality of life, fatigue, anorexia, insomnia and dyspnea as compared to the group with neither nausea nor vomiting (0.0001 < P < 0.05). Patients with only nausea but no vomiting tended to have less worsening in functioning and symptoms than those having both nausea and vomiting. Increased severity of vomiting (> 2 episodes) was associated with worsening of only global quality of life and anorexia as compared with 1-2 episodes of vomiting (0.0001 < P < 0.01). By 2-4 weeks after chemotherapy all HQL scores had either returned to their baseline levels or were better than baseline. PCNV adversely affects several quality-of-life domains, but patients with only nausea experience less disruption than do those with both nausea and vomiting. Patients with 1-2 episodes of vomiting experience almost the same degree of disruption of HQL as do patients with more than 2 episodes of vomiting.
The aim of this study was to establish whether nitrous oxide has a clinically important effect on postoperative vomiting in children after myringotomy. We studied 320 healthy children of ages 0.5-13 yr undergoing elective myringotomy and tube insertion. Induction and maintenance of anaesthesia were randomized to inhalation with either 70% N2O/30% O2/halothane or 100%O2/halothane. Surgical technique and postoperative management were not influenced by this study. Vomiting in the recovery room (PAR) and Day Care Surgical Unit (DCSU) was recorded by nurses unaware of the anaesthetic technique. Parents were contacted 24-48 hr after surgery to ascertain the incidence of vomiting after discharge. The groups were similar with respect to demographic data, except that the anaesthesia time was greater among the 158 patients in the N2O-treated group (11 +/- 4 vs 12 +/- 4 min, mean +/- SD). The incidence of vomiting was 13% in both groups. Most of the 42 patients that had emesis only vomited once or twice. The incidence of vomiting was not altered by sex (13% vs 13%) or duration of anaesthesia. The incidence of vomiting increased with increasing age. The children aged less than 3 yr vomited 4% of the time, those aged 3-5 vomited 11% of the time, those aged 6-8 yr vomited 17% of the time, while the incidence of vomiting among those aged 9-13 yr was 31%. Vomiting prolonged the postoperative hospital stay from 75 to 92 min, P < 0.001, ANOVA. In summary, we have been unable to demonstrate that N2O induces vomiting by children after a brief general anaesthetic for myringotomy.
Cyclic vomiting syndrome, which is characterized by severe discrete episodes of nausea, vomiting, and lethargy, is a fairly common, disabling, predominately childhood condition. Approximately 25% of cases have coexisting neuromuscular disease manifestations (cyclic vomiting syndrome plus). To determine whether patients with cyclic vomiting syndrome and neuromuscular disease represent a distinct subentity within cyclic vomiting syndrome, a clinical interview was conducted regarding 80 randomly ascertained sufferers of cyclic vomiting syndrome from a disease association database. Cyclic vomiting syndrome plus and "cyclic vomiting syndrome minus," herein defined as the presence of at least two and zero neuromuscular disease manifestations, were present in 23 and 44 subjects, respectively. Neuromuscular disease manifestations, including cognitive disorders, skeletal myopathy, cranial nerve dysfunction, and seizure disorders, were found to statistically cluster together among the same subjects. In addition, subjects with cyclic vomiting syndrome with neuromuscular disease had an earlier age at onset for vomiting episodes and a three- to eightfold statistically increased prevalence for certain dysautonomia-related (migraine, chronic fatigue, neurovascular dystrophy) and constitutional (growth retardation and birth defects) disorders. However, subjects with cyclic vomiting syndrome with and without neuromuscular disease were equally likely to have a sibling affected with neuromuscular disease manifestations. We conclude that cyclic vomiting syndrome plus, although likely not genetically distinct from cyclic vomiting syndrome minus, represents a distinct phenotypic entity that predicts an earlier onset of disease and increased comorbidity with a distinct list of medical conditions, possibly owing to a higher degree of mitochondrial dysfunction.
BACKGROUND: Vomiting is usually a late and an infrequent symptom of colonic obstructions. Contrary to this general rule, it occurs early and more frequently in some cases of sigmoid volvulus. AIM: To study the clinical significance of vomiting in patients with sigmoid volvulus. SETTING: Teaching hospital in Western Orissa, India STUDY DESIGN: Prospective observational study MATERIAL AND METHODS: Prospectively enrolled subjects with sigmoid volvulus diagnosed on the basis of clinical, radiological and laparotomy evidence were included in the study carried out in a tertiary care centre in India. Detailed history was obtained from them, especially to elicit information about the occurrence of various symptoms. Information regarding type of vomiting was also obtained. Efforts were made to exclude other causes of vomiting. Statistical tests such as Chi-Square test, Fisher's exact test or Student's t test were used. RESULTS: Ninety-three consecutive subjects with sigmoid volvulus were enrolled. Five patients with possible other aetiologies for vomiting and seven patients with compound sigmoid volvulus were eliminated from further analysis. Two patterns of vomiting were noted in 81 evaluable patients with sigmoid volvulus. In 33 patients (Group A), vomiting preceded or coincided with the onset of other abdominal symptoms (Type 1 vomiting). In 48 patients (Group B) vomiting occurred after the onset of other abdominal symptoms (Type 2 vomiting). The period between the onset of these symptoms and that of vomiting varied from a few hours to several days. Group A patients sought medical help much earlier than those of Group B. Incidences of circulatory shock (24% vs. 8%), haemorrhagic ascites (21% vs. 6%) and colonic gangrene (64% vs. 35%) were significantly higher in Group A than in Group B. The mortality rate (15% vs. 4%) was higher in Group A as well. About 25% (n = 7) of Group A patients in contrast to 4% (n=2) of Group B required hospitalization exceeding 3 weeks. Vomitus was predominantly non-bilious (21 out of 33 patients) in Group A (64%) and bilious (10 out of 11 patients) in Group B (91%). CONCLUSION: Type 1 vomiting appears to be an indicator of more severe presentation and is associated with an increased morbidity and mortality. This study suggests that the pattern of vomiting could be a simple and useful predictor of prognosis in sigmoid volvulus.
BACKGROUND: In 1998, the National Institutes of Health Consensus Statement on Acupuncture concluded that promising results have emerged showing the efficacy of acupuncture in adult postoperative and chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting. The acupuncture point, P6 had been the point used in most of the trials. OBJECTIVES: To summarize Cochrane systematic reviews assessing P6 stimulation for nausea and vomiting. RESULTS: Reviews were found on postoperative sickness, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, and pregnancy-related nausea and vomiting. Results for postoperative nausea and vomiting show the most consistent results with 26 trials and more than 3000 patients showing the superiority of real P6 stimulation over sham for both adults and children and for both nausea and vomiting. Pooled data of trials including different antiemetics showed that P6 stimulation seems to be superior to antiemetic medication for nausea and equivalent for vomiting. P6 stimulation was similarly effective across the different methods of stimulation, both invasive or noninvasive. Results for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting showed 11 trials and over 1200 patients. Electroacupuncture, but not manual acupuncture, was beneficial for first-day vomiting. Acupressure was effective for first-day nausea but not vomiting. Wristwatch-like electrical devices were not effective for any outcome. Results for pregnancy-related nausea and vomiting comprised six trials and approximately 1150 patients. Results were mixed with some trials showing positive and other trials equivocal results with no favor to a certain kind of method. CONCLUSIONS: P6 stimulation may be beneficial for various conditions involving nausea and vomiting. The added value to modern antiemetics remains unclear. In patients on chemotherapy, future research should focus on patients for whom the problems are refractory. The next steps in research should include investigating whether acupuncture points added to P6 or individualizing treatment based on a Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnosis increases treatment effectiveness. It would also be worthwhile to identify predictors of response across the different conditions so that the individual patients can optimize acupuncture point therapy.
An experimental analysis of a case of chronic ruminative vomiting in a 15-year-old, profoundly retarded, Down's syndrome boy addressed the consequences of vomiting in the postmealtime environment. The experiment compared four treatments in each hour-long session using a multiple reinforcement schedule with order of the following procedures counterbalanced over days in a Latin square design: differential reinforcement of any behaviors other than vomiting (DRO) in which periods of no vomiting were followed by reinforcement and vomiting postponed reinforcement; differential reinforcement of specific behaviors alternative to vomiting (DRI) in which conjoint periods of no vomiting and sustained toy play were followed by reinforcement and the lack of either postponed reinforcement; extinction plus reinforcement of alternative behavior in which vomiting was ignored but toy play was reinforced; extinction in which vomiting was ignored. Data revealed an orderly dual cyclical pattern of vomiting throughout the day, with increased vomiting in the morning and immediately following food ingestion. Postluncheon treatments emphasizing reinforcement of alternative behavior were more successful in decreasing vomiting than DRO or extinction alone.
BACKGROUND: The correlation between gastric myoelectrical activity (GMA) and gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea and vomiting is poorly understood. The aim of this study was to assess the association of GMA with vomiting induced by retrograde gastric electrical stimulation or duodenal balloon distention. METHODS: Ten dogs were involved in this study. Vomiting was induced by retrograde gastric electrical stimulation in 6 dogs and by duodenal balloon distention in 4 dogs. Computerized spectral analysis and visual analysis were applied to detect the GMA change during various periods before and after vomiting. RESULTS: Gastric dysrhythmia preceded vomiting but was of brief duration. The major pattern of dysrhythmia immediately before vomiting was tachyarrhythmia and gastric slow wave was completely uncoupled before vomiting. Gastric dysrhythmia and slow wave uncoupling were also noticed immediately after vomiting but the dogs recovered quickly. The major pattern of dysrhythmia after vomiting was arrhythmia. GMA was normal during the periods other than 5 min before and during vomiting and 5 min after vomiting. CONCLUSIONS: Gastric dysrhythmia seems to be the cause of vomiting induced by retrograde gastric electrical stimulation or duodenal balloon distention. It is brief and characterized with tachyarrhythmia and uncoupling.
Cyclic vomiting syndrome is an idiopathic disorder characterized by attacks of severe vomiting, interspersed with normal periods, and found in patients with a family history of migraine headaches. In this report, we investigated the characterization of the autonomic abnormalities in cyclic vomiting syndrome, contrasting them with values in pediatric population, as well as adults with migraine headache. We studied five groups: 41 normal pediatric controls (NPC), 12 patients with pediatric chronic vomiting (PCV), 15 patients with cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS), 21 adults patients with migraine headaches (MHA), and 40 normal adult controls (NAC). We studied the sympathetic and cholinergic functions: two measures of sympathetic adrenergic function-vasoconstriction to cold and postural adjustment ratio; two measures of vagal cholinergic function--Valsalva ratio and ECG R-R interval; and one measure of total autonomic score. Comparisons were performed between and within groups by t tests and reported as mean +/- SEM. Although cholinergic function measures were lower in cyclic vomiting and migraine groups, the most distinct abnormality was low postural adjustment ratio in both cyclic vomiting and migraine groups vs normal pediatric and pediatric chronic vomiting groups. There was also a significant difference between cyclic vomiting and pediatric chronic vomiting groups (P < 0.05 in three other parameters). Cyclic vomiting syndrome is associated with distinctive adrenergic autonomic abnormalities similar to those in patients with migraine headaches and is usually characterized by a low postural adjustment ratio. These findings may have implications for both confirmation and diagnosis of cyclic vomiting syndrome.
INTRODUCTION: Postoperative nausea and vomiting belong to fairly frequent postoperative complications, but they occupy a distant position on the list of complications, which most probably result from a general conviction that they do not pose a direct threat to patients. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this work is specification of factors facilitating occurrence of postoperative nausea and vomiting, and determination of frequency of their occurrence in patients operated under general anesthesia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Questionnaire about the occurrence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), was carried out and included 253 adult sick persons (102 female and 151 male patients), in the age between 23-76 (average 42.3 +/- 6.1 years), who had undergone operative procedure in the field of abdominal and urology surgery, orthopedic, thyroid surgery and laryngological, ophthalmology and plastic surgery, under general anesthesia. The questionnaire form included preoperative characteristics of a patient (age, sex, smoking, motion sickness and migraine headaches in history, and PONV occurring earlier), type of operative procedure, used anesthetic agents, and analgesic agents applied in postoperative analgesia. The anesthesiologist administering anesthetic was not informed about the investigation carried out and did not receive any additional pieces of advice regarding the type of applied anesthetic agents or the method of conducting postoperative analgesia. Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used in the evaluation of nausea. Nausea and vomiting were assessed every two hours within the first postoperative 12 hours and every 4 hours for the next 24 hours. Nausea and vomiting were treated as two separate complications. RESULTS: Nausea itself occurred in 22.7% of patients; whereas vomiting in 13.2%. Both symptoms occurred in 14.2% of patients. Nausea occurred 4.1 +/- 0.8 hours after operation; whereas vomiting after 5.3 +/- 1.1 hours. Women suffered more often than men from (R = 0.678 p < 0.001). The same was registered for non-smokers (nausea: R = 0.623, vomiting: R = 0.437), and for the patients suffering from PONV earlier (R = 0.421 for nausea, and R=0.331 for vomiting). PONV also occurred more often in cases of obese patients (p < 0.002) and the patients anesthetized by younger anesthetists (p < 0.002). Clear relation between the frequency of postoperative nausea and vomiting occurrence and the type of operative procedure was also noticed. The relation appeared to be the strongest (R = 0.531; p < 0.001) in case of the sick who underwent abdominal and laryngological procedures (R= 0.421; p < 0.02), as well as ophthalmologic (R= 0.407; p < 0.02) procedures. However, the relation was the weakest in case of the sick who underwent orthopedic procedures (R =0.127; p < 0.02). The correlation between anesthesia induction agents and frequency of PONV was not observed. PONV was significantly more frequent in case of the sick receiving postoperative opioids than those who received nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs. CONCLUSIONS: (1) PONV is more frequent in women than in men. The same refers to non-smokers, suffering from migraine headaches, motion sickness, as well as obesity and suffering from PONV earlier. (2) The frequency of postoperative vomiting in the patients with nausea is higher by 65.2% than in the patients without nausea. (3) A clear relation between the frequency of postoperative nausea and vomiting occurrence and the type of operative procedure was noticed. It was the strongest in the sick who underwent orthopedic procedures. (4) The correlation between anesthesia induction agents and PONV was not observed.
BACKGROUND: A once-daily extended-release galantamine(GAL-ER) formulation has been designed to improve tolerability compared with twice-daily immediate-release galantamine (GAL-IR). OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to conduct a post hoc analysis of the clinical presentation of nausea and vomiting with GAL-ER compared with GAL-IR in subjects with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHODS: This is the report of a post hoc analysis of a large, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial of GAL-ER with GAL-IR as the active control in subjects with mild to moderate AD. Galantamine dose was titrated every 4 weeks by increments of 8 mg/d to a daily dose of 16 or 24 mg, based on tolerability. Daily rates of nausea and vomiting were compared for the GAL-ER and GAL-IR groups. AUCs of the daily percentage of subjects reporting nausea/vomiting during dose titration were calculated. Antiemetic use for nausea/vomiting was compared between GAL-ER and GAL-IR groups. RESULTS: Demographic characteristics were similar between the GAL-ER, GAL-IR, and placebo groups. Nausea was reported by 16.9% (54/319) of GAL-ER, 13.8% (45/326) of GAL-IR, and 5.0% (16/320) of placebo patients; vomiting was reported for 6.6% (21/319) of GAL-ER, 8.6% (28/326) of GAL-IR, and 2.2% (7/320) of placebo patients. The mean (SD) daily rate of nausea in the total population was 3.1 (13.43%) in the GAL-ER group and 5.2% (22.07%) in the GAL-IR group (P = NS); the mean (SD) daily rate of vomiting for the total population was 0.6% (4.14%) in the GAL-ER group and 1.6% (14.50%) in the GAL-IR group (P = NS). The mean (SD) daily rate of nausea or vomiting in the total population was 1.2 (8.46) and 0.4 (5.44) in the placebo group, respectively. For subjects reporting nausea, the mean (SD, SE) percentage of days with nausea was lower with GAL-ER than with GAL-IR (18.4% [28.22%, 5.31%] vs 38.0% [48.23%, 6.04%]; P = 0.014). AUC of the daily percentage of subjects reporting nausea/vomiting during dose titration was significantly higher in the GAL-IR group compared with the placebo group (320.9 vs 102.9; P = 0.01); there was no statistical difference between the GAL-ER group and placebo (171.1 vs 102.9; P = NS). Antiemetic use by subjects reporting nausea or vomiting was significantly lower in the GAL-ER group than the GAL-IR group (33.3% vs 53.4%; P = 0.028). CONCLUSIONS: In these subjects with AD, the daily percentage of subjects reporting nausea and vomiting, and the percentage of days with vomiting among subjects reporting vomiting, did not significantly differ between the GAL-ER and GAL-IR groups. However, GAL-ER was associated with a significantly lower percentage of days with nausea than GAL-IR among subjects reporting nausea. AUC of the daily percentage of subjects with nausea or vomiting during dose titration did not differ significantly between the GAL-ER and placebo groups but was significantly higher in the GAL-IR group than placebo. Subjects with nausea or vomiting who received GAL-ER reported significantly less antiemetic use than those treated with GAL-IR. These results suggest the need for additional studies to explore the potential differences in the tolerability of these formulations.
OBJECTIVE: The experience of women was sought about nausea and vomiting, its relation to olfaction, its occurrence among pregnant women with anosmia, and the potential association of hyperemesis gravidarum and migraine headache. METHODS: We performed a community-based study with a physician/patient-directed questionnaire, and a retrospective analysis of hospital records. RESULTS: Nearly all women (n = 163 parous women) experience nausea (98%) and vomiting (97%). The highest frequency causes of nausea and vomiting were "food poisoning" (65%), "flu" (58%), pregnancy (54%), and offensive odors (52%); vomiting occurred as frequently as nausea for the first 2 causes, and one half as often for the latter causes. Most women reported that the pain experienced during vomiting exceeded that of parturition. Among 9 women with hypogonadotropic anosmia with advanced reproductive technology-induced pregnancies, 2 experienced nausea and vomiting, one from "food poisoning." Among 37 women with migraine headache, 10 (27%) had experienced hyperemesis gravidarum, and among 16 who experienced hyperemesis gravidarum, 5 (37%) had migraine headaches. CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of nausea and vomiting, caused most often by nonpregnancy-related triggers, is high among women. In a small sample of women with congenital anosmia, nausea and vomiting of pregnancy occurred in only 1 pregnancy, suggesting that olfaction is a highly selected trigger for nausea and vomiting of pregnancy. The shared nausea and vomiting experience of hyperemesis gravidarum and migraine headache among women suggests a common mechanism, possibly based on allelic variations within the DRD2 (dopaminergic receptor) gene. Because olfactory receptors, odor types, and MHC antigens are closely integrated, and because olfactory stimuli often incite episodes of pregnancy, nausea, and vomiting, hyperemesis gravidarum, and migraine headache, these genes and their products invite further scrutiny. The pregnancy-conserving effect of PNV and the MHC antigen overlap in couples with recurrent abortion are important clues possibly relating olfaction, MHC antigens, and reproductive success or failure.
Both radiotherapy and chemotherapy for cancer are capable of causing nausea and vomiting. With both treatment modalities, the nausea and vomiting is thought to be a second-order process rather than being due to direct stimulation of neuromechanisms that control vomiting. Both a peripheral (gastrointestinal tract) and central (chemoreceptor trigger zone) effect may be operating with both radiotherapy- and chemotherapy-induced vomiting. With radiotherapy, gastrointestinal toxicity is affected by the type of radiation, radiation dose and field size, fractionation schedule, individual patient factors, and the part of the patient that is radiated. Many different factors also influence the frequency and severity of nausea and vomiting following chemotherapy. With both radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the frequency and severity of nausea and vomiting is probably mediated by a reduction in breakdown of various neurotransmitters. It is presumed that as the levels of neurotransmitters increase, nausea and vomiting develop. Antagonists of these neurotransmitters may afford some antiemetic protection. Nausea and vomiting may be so severe in patients with cancer that they may refuse potentially curative therapy because of it. Anticipatory nausea and vomiting may develop in patients who have become quite sick after receiving treatment. Exposure to stimuli associated with the emetogenic agent is then sufficient to trigger nausea and vomiting. Standard antiemetics do not help anticipatory nausea and vomiting, although behavioural training may. A variety of different drugs have proven useful as antiemetics, including dopamine antagonists such as phenothiazines, metoclopramide, corticosteroids (dexamethasone and methylprednisolone), cannabinoids, and benzodiazapines. Antihistamines and anticholinergics are of value in some situations. New serotonin antagonists appear to be very promising and are currently undergoing clinical studies. Multiagent antiemetic regimens appear to be more effective than single agent regimens in some situations.
At the present time 5-HT3 antagonists in combination with corticosteroids represent the best prophylaxis and treatment of acute vomiting and nausea in highly emetogenic cancer chemotherapy. However, 24 h after chemotherapy 5-HT3 antagonists are no longer superior to benzamides for prevention of delayed symptoms. All recommendations for use of corticosteroids in delayed nausea and vomiting basically rely on one small study by Kris et al. [J Clin Oncol 1989;7:108-114]. Since the use of corticosteroids in cancer chemotherapy remains controversial, this single-blind, randomised, prospective trial was initiated to re-evaluate the benefits of corticosteroids during the days after chemotherapy. Thus patients treated for ovarian cancer received 5 mg tropisetron (Navoban) plus 20 mg dexamethasone for the prevention of acute vomiting and nausea in cis-platinum-containing chemotherapy (50 mg). Twenty-four hours after the beginning of chemotherapy 49 patients were randomised to receive 3 x 100 mg alizapride (Vergentan) plus a placebo medication (group A) and 47 patients to receive 3 x 100 mg alizapride plus 3 x 4 mg dexamethasone (group B) for 3 days depending on the incidence of acute vomiting beginning on day 2. The well-being of both groups was compared using objective and subjective parameters (Rotterdam Symptom Checklist). Major control of acute vomiting was achieved in 87.5% of the cases. The study was stopped after this interim analysis of 96 patients revealed no advantage of corticosteroids during the days after chemotherapy. Significant differences between both groups were detected only on a few days (day 6: objective nausea in favour of group A, day 4: objective vomiting in favour of group B, day 6: objective vomiting in favour of group A, day 3: constipation in favour of group A, days 4 and 5: difficulty concentrating in favour of group A, day 3: dry mouth in favour of group B). In contrast to acute nausea and vomiting the addition of corticosteroids is not beneficial in the prevention of delayed nausea and vomiting. Until better strategies are available the best prophylaxis of delayed symptoms is the control of acute nausea and vomiting using 5-HT3 antagonists plus corticosteroids. The use of benzamides has to be considered efficacious in the prevention of delayed vomiting and nausea.