Efficacy of additional dexamethasone administration for the attenuation of paclitaxel-associated acute pain syndrome

Purpose Paclitaxel-associated acute pain syndrome (P-APS) affects 80% of patients undergoing therapy. Although it has been shown that prednisone administration for 5 days relieves P-APS, detailed results have not been reported thus far. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated the preventive effect of dexamethasone (DEX) administration against P-APS. Methods A total of 60 patients who received carboplatin (area under the curve; AUC = 5-6) plus paclitaxel (200 mg/m(2)) (plus bevacizumab 15 mg/kg, if non-squamous carcinoma of lung) were enrolled. Eight milligrams of DEX was orally administered on days 2 and 3 to the DEX group patients, and the frequency, severity, duration of P-APS, and other adverse effects in the first cycle were retrospectively evaluated and compared to those observed in control group patients, who were not administered DEX on days 2 and 3. Results No difference in terms of patient characteristics, except for type of cancer, was observed between groups. The results showed that the frequency of all grade P-APS was approximately 70% and there was no difference between groups. Frequency of >= G2 P-APS was 40% in the control group and 14% in the DEX group, demonstrating a significant reduction. Duration of P-APS was 5.8 days in the control group and 4.3 days in the DEX group, which tended to become shorter following additional DEX administration, although this was not significant. Adverse effects other than P-APS induced by chemotherapy were similar between the two groups. Conclusion Additional DEX administration is safe and useful for the attenuation of the severity of P-APS.