Emesis as a complication of cancer chemotherapy: pathophysiology, importance, and treatment.

Up to 30% of patients receiving chemotherapy experience uncontrolled nausea and vomiting despite pharmacotherapeutic advances. Currently marketed agents used to treat these symptoms are compared. Dose escalation of these agents may improve response rates. Recent focus has been on a new class of antiemetics, the serotonin antagonists. Ondansetron, currently the only serotonin antagonist with Food and Drug Administration approval for treatment of chemotherapy-induced emesis, demonstrates the efficacy and potential advantages of this class of antiemetics.