Chemotherapy nausea often delayed

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Health Writer

A study that included patients from Honolulu determined that many more cancer patients who receive chemotherapy report a serious problem with nausea a day or two after treatment, according to a recently published report.

The research appeared in the latest issue of the journal Cancer, produced by the American Cancer Society. The report said delayed nausea is a problem for cancer patients after they return home or go back to work feeling fine and then find themselves feeling sick two or three days later.

The national study by scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center involved 322 patients. It found 43 percent of patients reported being nauseated the day they received their chemotherapy treatment, and 73 percent reported the problem after one or more days.

And those patients — 14 of them in Honolulu — who were ill in the days following treatment were twice as likely to report moderate or severe nausea than those who felt queasy on the first day.

"Surprisingly, 18 percent of patients didn't have any nausea at all until the third day. That's astonishing," said Dr. Jane T. Hickok, the lead author of the paper, in a press release. "And these were all patients who received medications to treat vomiting and nausea."

The principal investigator in Honolulu was Dr. Brian Issell, director of the clinical sciences program of the University of Hawai'i Cancer Research Center of Hawai'i. Issell said the information on the delays turned up among patients that the cancer center was working with to find better ways to treat the nausea.

"We have different ways of trying to help," Issell said. In addition to searching for cancer treatments, he said, researchers are constantly seeking improvement in treating the symptoms that come with the treatment.

"We're always looking at ways to improve the quality of life of patients," Issell said.

Hickok said in the release that the delayed nausea is more common than previously realized.

All patients received standard therapy to prevent nausea.