NAUSEA INDUCED BY MENTAL IMAGES OF CHEMOTHERAPY

Background. Although anecdotal reports indicate that patients with can cer undergoing chemotherapy can become nauseated outside the chemother apy clinic when they think or talk about treatment, this phenomenon ha s not been investigated systematically. Methods. A series of experimen tal analyses with individual patients was conducted to explore the pos sibility that mental images of chemotherapy can elicit nausea in patie nts who, during the course of their treatment, experienced nausea in a nticipation of chemotherapy infusions. Occurrence and intensity of nau sea were examined in each patient in response to three imagery scenes: pastoral, a nonchemotherapy medical procedure, and chemotherapy. Resu lts. Eight of 10 patients with clinically documented histories of anti cipatory nausea to clinic stimuli experienced nausea when they imagine d chemotherapy. They did not become nauseated when they imagined nonch emotherapy medical procedures. For the four patients without prior ant icipatory nausea, imaginal reexposure to chemotherapy did not elicit n ausea. Conclusions. Results provide evidence that mental images of che motherapy elicit nausea in patients with histories of anticipatory nau sea and suggest that cognitive factors may play a more important role in the occurrence of chemotherapy side effects than previously recogni zed.