[Improved antiemetic treatment with levomepromazine (author's transl)]

Abstract

The antiemetic effect of levomepromazine (Neurocil) was tested in 76 patients treated for metastasizing malignancies with cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum (II) (Platinex). In all patients conventional antiemetics had been ineffective against gastrointestinal side effects of platinum. Using levomepromazine vomiting and nausea could be successfully prevented in 47 out of 63 patients on conventional cis-platinum doses (20 mg/m2 for 5 consecutive days) and in 5 out of 13 patients on high single day dosages (100 mg/m2). In most other patients clear-cut subjective improvement occurred. The antiemetic effect of levomepromazine against cis-platinum, which ranks among the most widely used cytostatics and causes gastrointestinal symptoms, is of importance in medico-oncological practice as it causes relief for the patients.