Neutropenia during chemotherapy was associated with increased survival of patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. Monitoring of CIN could be used to predict treatment responsiveness.

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Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) is one of the most unpleasant non-haematological side effects that affects a patient＇s quality of life and leads to poor adherence to further chemotherapy. The current antiemetic guidelines recommend a three-drug combination of a 5-HT3 receptor antagonist, dexamethasone, and aprepitant for patients undergoing highly emetogenic chemotherapy. However, the efficacy of aprepitant has not been well investigated in breast cancer patients receiving doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (AC). We investigated the incidence of nausea and vomiting before and after the introduction of aprepitant therapy in breast cancer patients. In addition, we also attempted to identify the risk factors predisposing these patients to CINV development. A total of 132 patients (n = 64 in non-aprepitant group and n = 68 in aprepitant group) with breast cancer were analyzed. The incidence of vomiting was more frequently detected in patients in the non-aprepitant group than in patients in the aprepitant group (37.5 vs 13.2％; P = 0.001). In contrast, a significant higher proportion of nausea was observed in the aprepitant group (92.6 vs 78.1％; P = 0.018). Multivariate analysis showed that aprepitant use (odds ratio [OR] 0.240; 95％ confidence interval [CI] 0.099-0.582) and Body Surface Area > 1.52 (OR 2.713;) were significantly associated with the incidence of vomiting. Meanwhile, aprepitant use (OR 3.528;) only resulted in an increase in the incidence of nausea. These findings suggest that aprepitant might not be effective for the prevention of nausea although it is effective for the prevention of vomiting.