• Complementary medicine in nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy in the elderly, a review study
  • Arash Fathi,1,* Mahsa Shekari,2 Zeinab Sadat Moosavifard,3
    1. Bachelor of Nursing student, Young and Elite Researchers Club, Department of Nursing, Bandar Abbas Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas, Iran
    2. Bachelor of Nursing student, Young and Elite Researchers Club, Department of Nursing, Bandar Abbas Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas, Iran
    3. Faculty of Nursing , Department of Nursing, Bandar Abbas Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas, Iran


  • Introduction: Nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy is one of the most common side reactions to chemotherapy, nausea and vomiting are associated with side effects such as dehydration, fluid and electrolyte imbalance, malnutrition, anorexia and damage to the esophagus and stomach. Uncontrollable nausea and vomiting due to intolerance of chemotherapy and refusal of treatment by patients can delay the chemotherapy program and reduce the quality of life of patients; Therefore, it is very important to try to reduce the side effects of cancer treatment, especially nausea and vomiting. Considering the side effects and low effect of anti-emetic drugs used for nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy, one of the basic and low-risk measures to use is complementary and alternative treatments; Therefore, the purpose of this review is to identify non-pharmacological methods or in other words complementary medicine to reduce chemotherapy nausea and vomiting and to introduce these methods to improve the quality.The life of the elderly with cancer.
  • Methods: PubMed and Google Scholar databases were used to find related articles. The keywords include vomiting, nausea, complementary and alternative medicine, chemotherapy, finally 10 studies were reviewed during the years 2012 to 2020.
  • Results: After searching, screening and evaluation, the results showed that measures such as breathing exercises, music along with massage therapy around the eyes and acupuncture significantly reduce nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy and affect the functional status of patients. On the other hand, medicinal plants such as Zingiber, Achillea millefolium L, Hypericum perforatum L, Citrus aurantium officinale have successfully treated CINV and it has been shown that Zingiber officinale and peppermint extract are superior to other compounds. Finally, it was found that ice massage in Negan area, in addition to improving the severity of nausea and vomiting in patients, also had a decreasing effect on the frequency of symptoms.
  • Conclusion: According to recent research results, complementary medicine causes fewer side effects and reduces treatment costs. It is also more effective, less invasive and more accessible compared to other treatments. Recent studies have also shown the increase in the use of CAM in cancer treatment, which can be considered along with other drug treatments to relieve patients' symptoms and increase the quality of life of cancer patients, especially the elderly.
  • Keywords: Nausea, vomiting, chemotherapy, complementary therapies