title: A novel prospective descriptive analysis of nausea and vomiting among patients receiving gastrointestinal radiation therapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Nausea and vomiting are common side effects from radiotherapy that can interfere with gastrointestinal (GI) cancer patients' quality of life (QOL). This study described the subjective experience of patients with radiation-induced nausea and vomiting (RINV) and its relation to QOL.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-eight patients treated with abdominal radiotherapy alone or with concomitant chemoradiotherapy were followed in a prospective study. All episodes of nausea, vomiting, and antiemetic use were recorded daily for the treatment period and the week following completion of therapy. QOL was assessed weekly using the Functional Living Index-Emesis QOL Tool (FLIE) and the EORTC QLQ-C30 core questionnaire (C30).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 351 episodes of nausea severity, duration, onset time, and 154 outcomes of vomiting onset times and contents were documented. The median nausea severity experienced per episode was 5 (on a scale from 1 to 10), and the most common durations of nausea were 30 min or less and constant nausea all day and night. The most common location of nausea was the abdomen. Longer nausea duration, great nausea severities, and the location of nausea experienced had significant adverse relationships to multiple QOL items on both the FLIE and the C30. In addition, the onset timing and number of vomiting episodes were related to the majority of all FLIE and QOL scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patient's subjective experiences of RINV directly correlated to the worsening of QOL outcomes. The identification and amelioration of these RINV experiences could improve QOL.
authors.affiliation: Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Poon
authors.affiliation: Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.affiliation: Division of Radiation Oncology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.|Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Kristopher
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dennis
authors.affiliation: Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: DeAngelis
authors.affiliation: Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Liying
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Jordan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stinson
authors.affiliation: Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Shun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Natalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pulenzas
authors.affiliation: Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. Edward.Chow@sunnybrook.ca.|Department of Radiation Oncology, Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, ON, M4N 3M5, Canada. Edward.Chow@sunnybrook.ca.
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chow
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000932:Antiemetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D059248:Chemoradiotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009325:Nausea / Q000139:chemically induced*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D014839:Vomiting / Q000139:chemically induced*
chemical_list: D000932:Antiemetics; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents
keywords: Patient-reported outcomes; Radiotherapy-induced emesis; Radiotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting