Effect of Adding Ginger to Routine Treatment on the Intensity of Chemotherapy-induced Nausea and Vomiting in Cancer patients who Referred to Razi Hospital, Rasht

Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting are the most important complications for cancer patients. Ginger is an effective herbal drug for the treatment of nausea and vomiting. It hasn’t any known side effects. In some countries, it is used for making of antiemetic drugs. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of ginger on the intensity of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in cancer patients. This study is a randomized, cross-over, double – blinded, clinical trial that was done on 44 cancer patients undergone chemotherapy. In the first cycle of the study, patients were assigned by four block random allocation to receive one of the antiemetic regimens; regimen A (routine and 1gr ginger) and regimen B (routine and 1gr placebo). After 28 days, in the next cycle of chemotherapy, another regimen was administrated; A or B plus chemotherapy drugs., the severity of the nausea and vomiting was measured in 4h (1, 2, 3, 4) after second dose and at the end of the 24h after receiving the first dose by using VAS and kortila tools. The data were analyzed by independent student t - test and non-parametric test (Mann-Whitney U test) by using SPSS, version 16 software. The results showed that the frequencies of nausea and vomiting in two regimen groups weren’t different, but nausea score was significantly decreased in ginger group, compared to placebo. Independent student t - test and Mann-Whitney U test also revealed a significant difference on nausea scores in 3rd and 24th hour post chemotherapy (p =0.06, p =0.01, respectively). In respect to low nausea score in ginger regimen, compared to placebo, it seems ginger using is a safe and simple method and it can be used as antiemetic drugs in patient undergoing chemotherapy