One of the potentially serious and dose-limiting toxicities of paclitaxel is the development of hypersensitivity reactions (HSRs). Up to 42% of patients receiving paclitaxel experience an HSR, with serious (> grade 3) reactions observed in about 2% of patients. Paclitaxel prescribing information and many other references therefore strongly recommend pre-medicating patients who are to be treated with paclitaxel-containing regimen with a corticosteroid, a histamine-1 (H1), and a histamine-2 (H2) antagonist prior to paclitaxel infusion. This is done to help prevent or minimize the occurrence of HSRs that could be caused by treating patients with paclitaxel. However, the method and timing of administering these pre-medications (particularly in the case of dexamethasone) have not been standardized. The current and most commonly used methods of preventing paclitaxel HSR includes one of the following: 1. Administering oral dexamethasone (20 mg), 12 hours and 6 hours prior to paclitaxel infusion and intravenous administration of H1 and H2 receptor antagonists 30 minutes prior to paclitaxel infusion (Conventional method); 2. Administering intravenous dexamethasone (20 mg), concurrently with H1 and H2 antagonists, 30 minutes prior to paclitaxel infusion (Short-course method); 3. Administering oral dexamethasone (20 mg), 12 hours prior to treatment in addition to intravenous dexamethasone (20 mg), H1 and H2 receptor antagonists administered 30 minutes prior to paclitaxel infusion. The goal of this study is to do a single center, prospective, randomized, open-label study to determine the most effective method in preventing paclitaxel HSR among these three commonly used methods.
This study is a single center, prospective, randomized, open-label study aimed at determining the most effective means of preventing hypersensitivity reactions in gynecologic oncology patients receiving paclitaxel infusions. The study will therefore provide clinicians with the best ways of preventing paclitaxel hypersensitivity reactions in their patients during treatment. Subjects will be randomized using the block randomization method into one of these three commonly used treatment methods:(1) Conventional method: oral dexamethasone (20 mg), taking 12 hours and 6 hours prior to paclitaxel infusion and intravenous administration of histamine-1 (H1), and a histamine-2 (H2)receptor antagonists administered 30 minutes prior to paclitaxel infusion. (2) Short-course method: intravenous dexamethasone (20 mg), administered concurrently with H1 and H2 antagonists, 30 minutes prior to paclitaxel infusion. (3) Combined method: oral dexamethasone (20 mg), taking 12 hours prior to treatment in addition to intravenous dexamethasone (20 mg), H1 and H2 receptor antagonists administered 30 minutes prior to paclitaxel infusion. The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) would be used to determine if there is any significant difference between the different strategies that are used to pre-medicate patients prior to paclitaxel infusion. P-values of less than 0.05 will be considered statistically significant.