Recommendations for Preventing Vomiting Caused by Radiation Therapy

The risk that radiation therapy will cause nausea and vomiting depends on where the radiation therapy is targeted and how much of the body is receiving treatment. The risks and recommended treatments of vomiting caused by radiation therapy are summarized in Table 3.

Risk of Nausea and Vomiting From Radiation	Area of the Body Being Treated	Recommended Treatment
High	Total body irradiation (entire body) or total nodal (lymph node) irradiation	One of these drugs: granisetron or ondansetron (preferred) or dolasetron, tropisetron, or palonosetron before each dose and after the last, with dexamethasone before treatments 1 through 5
Moderate	Upper abdomen (trunk or stomach), upper body, or half of the body	One of these drugs: granisetron or ondansetron (preferred) or dolasetron, tropisetron, or palonosetron before each treatment with dexamethasone before treatments 1 through 5
Low	Lower thorax (chest) Pelvis (lower abdomen) Brain Spinal cord (back) Head and neck	One of these drugs: granisetron or ondansetron (preferred) or dolasetron, tropisetron, or palonosetron as needed
Minimal	Arms and legs Breast	One of these drugs: granisetron or ondansetron (preferred) or dolasetron, tropisetron, or palonosetron and metoclopramide (Reglan) or prochlorperazine (Compazine) as needed