Effect of peppermint inhalation versus Swedish massage on chemotherapy induced-nausea and vomiting in children with leukemia: Multi-arm randomised trial design

Background: Chemotherapy is the foremost treatment for children with leukemia, while causing different serious side-effects. Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting are the most common deliberating side effects and critical concerns of pediatric oncology nurses among those children. Aim: To investigate the effect of peppermint inhalation versus Swedish massage on chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in children with leukemia. Design: A multi-arm randomised trial design with three parallel groups. Setting: This study was conducted at outpatient and inpatient Hematology/leukemia Units at Alexandria University Children's Hospital at Smouha. Methods: Seventy-five children with leukemia received the first chemotherapy session. They were randomly allocated into three equal groups, 25 children in each group (control, peppermint inhalation, and Swedish massage groups). Every child is assessed for nausea and vomiting before chemotherapy administration and after for three days for consecutive three sessions of treatment. Results: Study findings revealed that children in peppermint inhalation and Swedish massage groups showed significant reduction in mean total score of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting among peppermint inhalation and Swedish groups (15.120 1 4.585 and 14.680 1 3.158, respectively) was observed on third chemotherapy session than in control group (45.680 1 5.793) (p < 0.001). Conclusion: It can be concluded that Swedish massage and peppermint inhalation therapies may have significant antiemetic effects as alleviating the chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting for children with leukemia. Practice implications: This study directs the pediatric oncology nurses to incorporate peppermint inhalation and Swedish massage therapies besides antiemetic drugs in pediatric oncology unit protocols for management of chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting.