Evaluation of CINV in Multiple Courses of FEC and EC Therapy in Japanese Breast Cancer Patients

Abstract

Combined epirubicin + cyclophosphamide (EC) therapy and combined 5-fluorouracil + epirubicin + cyclophosphamide (FEC) therapy are standard care in terms of adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer and are classified as highly emetogenic chemotherapy regimens; to date, few studies have evaluated chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) related to these treatments over multiple treatment cycles. This study examined the incidence rates of nausea and vomiting in 61 patients who received EC/FEC therapies between 2010 and 2012 during each cycle for up to threecycles. The results showed that in the FEC group, incidence rates of nausea were significantly lower in the second (P = 0.036) and third cycles (P = 0.013) than in the first cycle. Furthermore, when referring to the previous literature, we observed good results pertaining to complete suppression of vomiting. Based on the results of this study, we confirm that during FEC and EC therapies, nausea is not exacerbated in subsequent treatment cycles, at least with FEC therapy.