To retrospectively analyze the individual risk factors for radioactive
iodine (RAI)-associated
nausea and
vomiting, and to examine the
anti-emetic effect of
ramosetron (5-hydroxytryptamine-3 receptor antagonist) in RAI
therapy. Patients with differentiated
thyroid carcinoma who underwent first-time RAI
therapy at Nagasaki University Hospital between January 2009 and 2013 were included (N = 81). As a routine treatment, all patients were administered 30 mg of
domperidone per day. Patients who underwent RAI
therapy between April 2011 and January 2013 were also administered 0.1 mg of
ramosetron per day in addition to
domperidone.
Nausea and
vomiting were evaluated based on Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 4.0. RAI-associated
nausea and
vomiting of any grade were seen in 37.0 and 6.2 % of patients in total, respectively. Moderate to severe
nausea (grade 2–3) was seen in 22.2 % of patients and associated with the dose of RAI per
body weight (odds ratio = 1.046, p = 0.013), but not with the use of
ramosetron, in multivariate logistic regression analysis. We have identified the dose of RAI per
body weight to be an individual risk factor associated with moderate to severe RAI-associated
nausea. This study failed to show that the combined use of
ramosetron and
domperidone reduced the frequency of RAI-associated
nausea and
vomiting.