Dopamine receptor antagonists

Abstract

Intractable nausea and/or vomiting is a serious and significant clinical dilemma that may greatly detract from quality of life. One of the first classes of antiemetic agents used as well as one of the commonest classes of antiemetic agents used is that of the dopamine receptor antagonists. Dopamine receptor antagonists are useful antiemetic agents, however, unfortunately, clinicians have on occasion resorted to switching from one dopamine receptor antagonist to another dopamine receptor antagonist when the initial dopamine receptor antagonist was ineffective rather than adding on a second antiemetic agent from a totally different class (e.g., 5-HT3 receptor antagonists, NK-1 receptor antagonists).

Keywords: Nausea; butyrophenones; dopamine receptor antagonists; metoclopramide; phenothiazines; vomiting.