Management and Prevention of Adverse Reactions to Platinum Antineoplastic Chemotherapy in Patients with Esophageal and Gastric Cancer: Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Introduction: Gastric cancer is the fifth most common malignancy worldwide. It is the most frequent malignant tumor in Asia, especially in China. Esophageal carcinoma is one of the more aggressive types of malignant tumor. Multimodal treatments, including neoadjuvant chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy are utilized and can cause fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, skin changes, cachexia, and peripheral neuropathy, which can be important side effects for many patients undergoing their treatments. Objective: Carry out a systematic review on the management and prevention of adverse reactions of antineoplastic chemotherapy with platinum in patients with esophageal cancer and gastric tumor. Method: To select the articles, a search was conducted in three databases: MEDLINE/PubMed, Cochrane and Embase, with the PICO strategy, alternating between MeSH/DeCS descriptors and Boolean operators. Results: 455 titles were found, of which, after using the PRISMA guideline, 15 articles remained for systematic review, addressing the management and prevention of nausea and vomiting, peripheral neuropathy, cachexia, magnesium supplementation, treatment of depression and general toxicity. Conclusion: The greatest number of studies addressing the management and prevention of the symptoms of nausea, vomits, neuropathy and hypomagnesemia were found, and it was possible to identify some suggestions of conducts to treat these reactions. More studies are necessary for the other reactions encountered, mainly in the cases of gastric and esophageal cancer.