A review of six recent antiemetic trials does not clarify the situation because no consistent findings were reported, and these studies were not primarily designed to determine the most efficacious treatment for the prevention of delayed nausea. In addition:

• None of these studies examined the efficacy of prochlorperazine in controlling nausea;
  
• None examined the relative merits of taking antiemetics, regardless of symptoms, versus taking them p.r.n.; and
  
• Five of these six studies are also lacking in that they did not include patients' quality of life (QOL) as an endpoint. QOL has been recommended by both the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (Beitz et al., 1996) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Consensus Group, 1996) as a measure of treatment efficacy.

The studies, in general, suggest that the 5-HT3 antiemetics are not significantly better than their counterparts in preventing delayed NV, with the possible exception being in those patients who experienced emesis on the day of treatment or at a previous treatment. To learn more about any of the studies, click below.

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