title: Evaluation of the efficacy of aprepitant on the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and quality of life with functional living index emesis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Functional Living Index Emesis (FLIE) is developed to evaluate the relationship between emesis and it's effects on patient's daily life and is far more relevant to detect the effectiveness of antiemetic treatment compared with self-diary reports. In this study, the efficacy of oral neurokinin-1 antagonist aprepitant on the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and quality of life is evaluated with FLIE.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) receiving a chemotherapy regimen consisting of Cisplatin and Docetaxel were evaluated. The patients were prospectively randomized to two groups before the first cycle of chemotherapy. Patients in Group A (31 patients) received 3 daily doses of aprepitant along with oral ondansetron and dexamethasone. The patients in group B (29 patients) received only ondansetron and dexamathasone. The efficacy of both regimens was evaluated by a modified Turkish version of FLIE scale consisting of 18 questions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The number of patients with complete response was 31 in the whole group. Of these 18 patients (58%) were in Group A (Aprepitant) and 13 patients in group B (42%). Median FLIE score in group A was 24.97 (±12.45) while it was 38.1 (±26.987) in group B and the difference was statistically significant (p=0.022). Total score >20 was seen in only 5 of 31 patients in aprepitant group (16%) showing the significant efficiency of aprepitant on quality of life, while in group B, 13 of 29 patients (44%) had total scores >20 (p=0.02).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Regarding these findings, it is certain to state that aprepitant in combination with other drugs optimizes protection against both nausea and vomiting compared to the prior standard of care, and must be recommended as first-line therapy for patients who are treated with moderately or highly emetogenic chemotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey.
authors.forename: Görkem
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Aksu
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ilhan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dolaşık
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey.
authors.forename: Fatih
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ensaroğlu
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey.
authors.forename: Selçuk Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Sener
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey.
authors.forename: Faden H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Aydın
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey.
authors.forename: Süleyman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Temiz
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey.
authors.forename: Doğu
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Canoğlu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey.
authors.forename: Kazım
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Uygun
keywords: Aprepitant; FLIE; chemotherapy; emezis; quality-of life