Literature Search Strategy
The literature was searched using MEDLINE (OVID; 1996 through August 2004), EMBASE (OVID: 1996 to August 2004), the Cochrane Library (Issue 2, 2004), the Physician Data Query database, the Canadian Medical Association Infobase, and the National Guideline Clearinghouse. In addition, conference proceedings of the meetings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (1997-2004), and the European Society for Medical Oncology (1998, 2000, 2002) were searched for relevant abstracts. Article bibliographies, Internet sites, and personal files were also searched to August 2004 for evidence relevant to the guideline question.
The literature search combined disease-specific terms (neoplasms/ or cancer:.tw. or malignan:.tw. or tumour:.tw.) with treatment-specific terms (L-754,030.tw. or L-758,298.tw. or aprepitant.mp. or Emend.mp. or receptors, neurokinin-1/ or MK-869.mp. or substance P/) with search-specific terms for the following study designs: practice guidelines, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, or randomized controlled trials.
Inclusion Criteria
Articles were selected for inclusion in this systematic review of the evidence if they were published reports or published abstracts of randomized controlled trials that met the following criteria:
- The reports compared aprepitant with a suitable control group (standard treatment or other novel antiemetic) in adult cancer patients receiving high-dose cisplatin.
- Results were reported for the primary outcomes of interest: emesis, nausea, adverse events related to treatment, and/or quality of life.
Practice guidelines, meta-analyses, or systematic reviews explicitly based on randomized trials related to the guideline question were also eligible for inclusion in the systematic review of the evidence.
Exclusion Criteria
Articles were excluded from the systematic review of the evidence if they were papers published in a language other than English.