Study design
This single-center, prospective observational study will be conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The ethical review board of the Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, approved this study’s protocol (approval number:2023-4-0420). This study was registered in the Japan Registry of Clinical Trials (jRCT) as jRCT1030230130. All patients will provide written informed consent.
Participants
The inclusion criteria are as follows: (i) diagnosis of gastrointestinal or urological cancer; (ii) planned platinum-based chemotherapy containing triplet therapy (FosNTP + PALO + DEX) as an antiemetic therapy; (iii) Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0–1; (iv) aged ≥ 18 years; and (v) informed consent to participate in this study. The exclusion criteria are as follows: (i) current use of opioids; (ii) current use of antiemetic agents (e.g., 5-HT3 RA, NK1-RA, corticosteroid, dopamine receptor antagonist, minor tranquilizer, antihistamine, and benzodiazepine); (iii) brain metastasis with uncontrollable symptoms; (iv) concurrent radiation therapy to the abdomen/pelvis; (v) prior platinum-based chemotherapy use within 3 months before enrollment; (vi) nausea and vomiting within 1 week before enrollment, and (vii) pregnant and lactating women.
Chemotherapy
There are two types of chemotherapy, including MEC and HEC containing cisplatin, carboplatin, or oxaliplatin, such as CapeOX (oxaliplatin 130 mg/m2, day 1 and capecitabine 1000 mg/m2 twice daily, days 1–14), SOX (oxaliplatin 130 mg/m2, day 1 and tegafur/gimeracil/oteracil 80 mg/m2, days 1–14), and mFOLFOX6 (oxaliplatin 85 mg/m2; levo-leucovorin 200 mg/m2; and fluorouracil 400 mg/m2 bolus and 2400 mg/m2 46-h continuous infusion, day 1), gemcitabine and cisplatin or carboplatin (gemcitabine 1000 mg/m2, day 1 and 8 and cisplatin 70 mg/m2 or carboplatin area under the curve = 5, day 1), and ddM-VAC (methotrexate 30 mg/m2, day 1 and vinblastine 3 mg/m2, pirarubicin 30 mg/m2, and cisplatin 70 mg/m2, day 2). For the mFOLFOX6 and SOX regimens, the addition of molecularly targeted agents or immune checkpoint inhibitors is allowed.
Antiemetic treatment
As an antiemetic therapy for HEC, FosNTP (225 mg/body), PALO (0.75 mg/body), and DEX (6.6 mg/body) are administered intravenously 30 min before chemotherapy on day 1, followed by DEX (8 mg) administered intravenously or orally for 4 days (days 2–5). The same triplet antiemetic therapy will be administered during the DEX period limited to day 1 for MEC (Table 1). Rescue antiemetic agents (metoclopramide, domperidone, alprazolam, and prochlorperazine maleate are recommended as the first choice) will be administered to all participants. The patients will be instructed on how to use rescue medications when they experience severe nausea or vomiting. Olanzapine will not be administered as a premedication for CINV.
Table 1
Antiemetic administration
Antiemetics | | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 |
Cisplatin and Carboplatin | Cisplatin 70 mg/m2 and Carboplatin AUC 4–5 | | | | | |
Fosnetupitant | IV | 235 mg | | | | |
Palonosetron | IV | 0.75 mg | | | | |
Dexamethasone | IV or PO | 9.9 mg | 6.6 mg (IV) 8 mg (PO) | 6.6 mg (IV) 8 mg (PO) | 6.6 mg (IV) 8 mg (PO) | 6.6 mg (IV) 8 mg (PO) |
Oxalipatin | 85–130 mg/m2 | | | | | |
Fosnetupitant | IV | 235 mg | | | | |
Palonosetron | IV | 0.75 mg | | | | |
Dexamethasone | IV or PO | 6.6 mg | | | | |
Abbreviations: AUC, area under the curve; IV, intravenous injection; PO, per os. |
Evaluation
Emetic events and nausea will be recorded in a patient’s daily diary from 0 to 336 h after starting the first course of chemotherapy as a self-report of adverse events (Table 2). Patients’ symptoms will be recorded in the library and laboratory tests will be assessed at every visit, and the severity of chemotherapy-induced adverse events will be evaluated by clinical pharmacists and attending physicians according to the National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 5.0.
Table 2
Self-reporting of adverse events
Side effect self-report |
Name Date |
| Grade | | | | | | | |
Nausea | None | | | | | | | |
Mild | | | | | | | |
Moderate | | | | | | | |
Severe | | | | | | | |
Rescue medication use (times) | | | | | | | |
Tolerable (mild nausea and does not need anti-nausea drugs) | 1 | | | | | | | |
If I use anti-nausea drugs, I can manage to eat. | 2 | | | | | | | |
I can hardly eat because of nausea. | 3 | | | | | | | |
Vomiting | Vomiting times | | | | | | | | |
Anorexia | I have a slight loss of appetite. | 1 | | | | | | | |
I can eat somehow. | 2 | | | | | | | |
I can hardly eat. | 3 | | | | | | | |
Malaise | I am a little tired; however, it does not interfere with my daily life. | 1 | | | | | | | |
I frequently lie down. | 2 | | | | | | | |
I lie down more often than I am awake. | 3 | | | | | | | |
Bedridden all day long. | 4 | | | | | | | |
Diarrhea | Increased defecation frequency < 4 times a day compared to usual. | 1 | | | | | | | |
Increased defecation frequency 4–6 times a day compared to usual. | 2 | | | | | | | |
Increased defecation frequency > 7 times a day compared to usual. | 3 | | | | | | | |
If you have any other symptoms of concern, please write them down. |
Endpoints
The primary endpoint includes the long-delayed (120–336 h) CC rate in the first cycle of chemotherapy according to the platinum (cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin) administered in the first cycle of chemotherapy. The secondary endpoints are as follows: (i) long-delayed CR and TC rates; (ii) CC, CR, and TC rates and frequency of mild nausea in the extended overall phase (0–336 h); (iii) risk factors for CINV in patients who do not achieve CC, CR, or TC; (iv) grade of nausea, vomiting, and anorexia (evaluated using CTCAE version 5.0), and the time of onset of CINV and anorexia in the extended overall phase (0–336 h); and (v) time-to-treatment failure of each agent. The CC rate is defined as the proportion of patients experiencing no emetic episodes and moderate or severe nausea without rescue medication. The CR rate is defined as the proportion of patients experiencing no emesis without rescue medication, and the TC rate is defined as the proportion of patients experiencing no vomiting or nausea without rescue medication. These parameters will be evaluated during the first and second cycles of chemotherapy.
Sample size calculation
No statistical sample size calculations have been conducted because the data analysis for the primary endpoint in this study will be performed using descriptive statistics. Regarding the secondary endpoint, we will use the Kaplan–Meier method and logistic regression analysis to determine the time-to-treatment failure of each agent and the risk factors for CINV, respectively. However, we will not use comparative statistical analysis. The target sample size is 100 participants. The sample size is the number of patients expected to receive chemotherapy for gastrointestinal and urological cancers at our hospital during the study period. We increased the number of participants by an additional 50 to analyze 50 patients, assuming a loss to follow-up. We set more than 50 patient analysis targets according to CONSOLE-BC [27], which evaluates long-delayed CINV, as in this study. However, confounding factors will not be addressed in this study because a comparative analysis will not be performed. Therefore, to control for missing data, a margin of 50 cases will be provided for the number of cases, as is the case for loss to follow-up.
Data collection
The following data will be collected: sex, age, type of cancer, stage, chemotherapy regimen, habitual alcohol consumption (defined as alcohol consumption in excess of social drinking), hyperemesis gravidarum history, motion sickness history, concomitant medication, CINV grade (evaluated using CTCAE version 5.0), and the time of CINV onset. Furthermore, self-reported adverse events (Table 2) will be used to assess nausea and vomiting. CINV will be evaluated based on patient-reported outcomes. The data will be collected between May 2023 and January 2028.
Data analysis
Each evaluation item will be analyzed using descriptive statistics. We will perform multivariate analysis (logistic regression, including factors with p < 0.2 in the univariate analysis) to investigate the risk factors that cause uncontrollable CINV in the delayed phase (120–336 h), which include sex, age, habitual alcohol consumption, history of morning sickness during pregnancy, motion sickness history, concomitant use of medications that inhibit cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A4, concomitant use of medications that induce CYP3A4, concomitant use of medications metabolized by CYP3A4, and cisplatin administration. We will use the Kaplan–Meier method to determine the time-to-treatment failure for each agent.