Study finds anti-nausea drug may help cancer patients survive longer

According to a new study, patients with breast, pancreatic and certain other types of cancer may survive longer if given an anti-nausea drug during surgery. Three months after their cancer surgery, more than three times as many patients who did not receive dexamethasone died, compared to those who received the drug, researchers found. "Dexamethasone has positive and negative effects -- it inhibits cancer growth, but also suppresses the immune system," said Maximilian Schaefer, MD, PhD, senior author of the study and director of the Center for Anesthesia Research Excellence, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston. After taking into account various factors, including that dexamethasone is often administered to younger patients, those who received the drug still had a 21 per cent reduced risk of dying within one year after surgery.