Prophylaxis and management of antineoplastic drug induced nausea and vomiting in children with cancer

Antineoplastic drug induced nausea and vomiting (AINV) is a major adverse event which deeply impacts the quality of life of children with cancer. It additionally causes distress to parents and negatively impacts compliance to therapy. A robust AINV prophylaxis regimen is essential to achieve complete control; and prevent anticipatory, breakthrough and refractory AINV. With a wide array of available anti-emetics, standard guidelines for their use are crucial to ensure uniform and optimum prophylaxis. Chemotherapeutic agents are classified as having high, moderate, low or minimal emetic risk based on their potential to cause emesis in the absence of prophylaxis. Three drug regimen with aprepitant, ondansetron/granisetron and dexamethasone is recommended for protocols with high emetic risk. Although approved in children ≥12 years, there is mounting evidence for the use of aprepitant in younger children too. In protocols with moderate and low emetic risk, combination of ondansetron/granisetron and dexamethasone; and single agent ondansetron/granisetron are recommended, respectively. Metoclopramide is an alternative when steroids are contraindicated. Olanzapine and lorazepam are useful drugs for breakthrough AINV and anticipatory AINV. Knowledge of pediatric dosage, salient adverse events, drug interactions as well as cost of drugs is essential to prescribe anti-emetics accurately and safely in resource constrained settings. Non pharmacological interventions such as hypnosis, acupressure and psychological interventions can benefit a sub-group of patients without significant risk of adverse events.