Crossover comparison of the antiemetic efficacy of nabilone and alizapride in patients with nonseminomatous testicular cancer receiving cisplatin therapy.

Twenty nonseminomatous testicular cancer patients not pretreated with emetogenic chemotherapy were included in a crossover study of antiemetic therapy. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either nabilone (2 X 2 mg/day) or alizapride (3 X 150 mg/day) prior to beginning low-dose cisplatin chemotherapy. Patients on nabilone had significantly fewer episodes of emesis than those on alizapride (medians, 1.1 vs 2.9; p less than 0.01). Nabilone was superior to alizapride in giving complete relief from nausea (medians, 65% vs 30%; p less than 0.01), and was more effective in shortening the duration of nausea (medians, 1.3 h vs 5.1 h; p less than 0.01); however, it caused more adverse effects. It is concluded that nabilone has greater antiemetic activity than alizapride in young patients receiving low-dose cisplatin chemotherapy. Nabilone dosage should be reduced to decrease the incidence and degree of adverse reactions while leaving the definite antiemetic activity unchanged.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes