Is ondansetron cost effective?

5-Hydroxytryptamine3 (5-HT3) receptor antagonists are a major breakthrough in the prevention of nausea and vomiting induced by cancer chemotherapy. The acquisition cost of these drugs is considerably higher than for more conventional antiemetics. In this study, the authors reported on the economic consequences of giving ondansetron in Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, USA. The study was divided into 3 parts. The first part was retrospective, and had the primary aim of comparing lengths of hospital stay and overall hospital costs for patients who had received intravenous ondansetron or standard antiemetic therapy. The purpose of the second part, which was prospective, was to determine the cost of emesis. In the third part, quality of life was studied; however, the results of this part were difficult to interpret because only 27 of the 52 selected patients completed the questionnaire, and only 4 of these patients received standard antiemetic therapy. In the retrospective study, costs were evaluated for patients who never received ondansetron, those who always received it, and those who received ondansetron during at least 1 hospital stay. In the prospective study, the costs associated with vomiting were nursing time, time required to obtain antiemetic therapy from the pharmacy, telephone calls to contact physicians, additional use of ancillary services, and laundry costs for soiled items. In the retrospective analysis, it was found that the average length of hospital stay for patients who were always given ondansetron was significantly shorter than for those who never received it.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)