Susceptibility to motion sickness and the development of anticipatory nausea and vomiting in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

There are neural pathways between the vestibular system and an area of the brain in the fourth ventricle that appear to coordinate vomiting. Based on this and clinical observations, we theorized a relationship between a susceptibility to motion sickness and the intensity of nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy. A significant relationship (P less than 0.01) between a susceptibility to motion sickness and anticipatory nausea/vomiting in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy was found. Antimotion drugs such as scopolamine may have a greater antiemetic effect on chemotherapy patients susceptible to motion sickness than on those who are not susceptible.