Newswise — (FORT WASHINGTON, PA, November 21, 2016) — To inform patients about their treatment options and help them combat nausea and vomiting during treatment, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) has published the NCCN Guidelines for Patients® and NCCN Quick Guide™ for Nausea and Vomiting. These patient resources—the first from NCCN to focus specifically on supportive care—are made available through funding from the NCCN Foundation®.

Approximately 90% of patients receiving highly emetogenic chemotherapy for treatment of cancer experience nausea and vomiting, making it one of the most prominent and feared side effects of cancer treatment. Not only does nausea and vomiting affect quality of life for patients, which can lead to poor compliance to chemotherapy or radiation therapy, but it can have serious effects on a patient’s overall health, including severe metabolic imbalances and dehydration. There are, however, a number of prophylactic treatments for nausea and vomiting available to patients, which lower the incidence of nausea and vomiting to 30%.[1]

“At NCCN, our mission is to improve the lives of patients with cancer, and we are excited to be able to provide the information that will help patients better understand this common side effect of cancer treatment,” said Marcie R. Reeder, MPH, Executive Director, NCCN Foundation. “The NCCN Guidelines for Patients for Nausea and Vomiting are the first of a highly anticipated library of supportive care resources that provide patients with the same information their doctors use.”

The patient resources for nausea and vomiting are available on NCCN.org, as well as on the new NCCN Patient Guides for Cancer mobile app, which launched earlier this month. The new app is available free of charge for Android and iOS devices and features the complete library of NCCN Guidelines for Patients and NCCN Quick Guide™ sheets.

“With the launch of the new mobile app, patients and caregivers have easy-to-understand cancer treatment information at the tips of their fingers. We are excited to deliver this world-class information to all audiences, whether in print, online, or via mobile device,” added Ms. Reeder.

NCCN Guidelines for Patients, patient-friendly translations of the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®), are easy-to-understand resources based on the same clinical practice guidelines used by health care professionals around the world to determine the best way to treatment a patient with cancer. Each resource features unbiased expert guidance from the nation’s leading cancer centers designed to help people living with cancer talk with their physicians about the best treatment options for their disease.

NCCN Guidelines for Patients and NCCN Quick Guide™ sheets—one-page summaries of key points in the patient guidelines—are written in plain language and include patient-friendly elements, such as questions to ask your doctor, a glossary of terms, and medical illustrations of anatomy, tests, and treatments. NCCN Guidelines for Patients and NCCN Quick Guide™ sheets DO NOT replace the expertise and clinical judgment of the clinician.

NCCN currently offers NCCN Guidelines for Patients for the following: Breast, Colon, Esophageal, Kidney, Non-Small Cell Lung, Ovarian, Pancreatic, Prostate, and Stomach Cancers; Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer; Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Hodgkin Lymphoma; Lung Cancer Screening; Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma; Melanoma; Multiple Myeloma; Nausea and Vomiting; Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphomas; and Soft Tissue Sarcoma.

The NCCN Guidelines for Patients and NCCN Quick Guide™ sheet for Nausea and Vomiting are available to download for free from NCCN.org/patients and on the NCCN Patient Guides for Cancer mobile app.

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About NCCN Foundation®NCCN Foundation® was founded by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) to empower people with cancer and advance oncology innovation. NCCN Foundation supports people with cancer and their caregivers at every step of their treatment journey by delivering unbiased expert guidance from the world’s leading cancer experts through the library of NCCN Guidelines for Patients® and other patient education resources. NCCN Foundation is also committed to advancing cancer treatment by funding the nation’s promising young investigators at the forefront of cancer research, initiating momentum in their careers and furthering the betterment of patients through their groundbreaking innovations. For more information about NCCN Foundation, visit NCCNFoundation.org.

About the National Comprehensive Cancer NetworkThe National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®), a not-for-profit alliance of 27 of the world’s leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education, is dedicated to improving the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of cancer care so that patients can live better lives. Through the leadership and expertise of clinical professionals at NCCN Member Institutions, NCCN develops resources that present valuable information to the numerous stakeholders in the health care delivery system. As the arbiter of high-quality cancer care, NCCN promotes the importance of continuous quality improvement and recognizes the significance of creating clinical practice guidelines appropriate for use by patients, clinicians, and other health care decision-makers.

The NCCN Member Institutions are: Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, Omaha, NE; Case Comprehensive Cancer Center/University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland, OH; City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA; Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center | Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA; Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC; Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA; Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle, WA; The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD; Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, Chicago, IL; Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ, Jacksonville, FL, and Rochester, MN; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY; Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL; The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, Columbus, OH; Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY; Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO; St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital/The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN; Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford, CA; University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center, Birmingham, AL; UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA; UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA; University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, CO; University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, MI; The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, WI; Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN; and Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital, New Haven, CT.

Clinicians, visit NCCN.org. Patients and caregivers, visit NCCN.org/patients. Media, visit NCCN.org/news.

[1]Referenced with permission from the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) for Antiemesis V.2.2016. © National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Inc 2016. All rights reserved. Accessed November 14, 2016. To view the most recent and complete version of the guideline, go online to NCCN.org. NATIONAL COMPREHENSIVE CANCER NETWORK®, NCCN®, NCCN GUIDELINES®, and all other NCCN Content are trademarks owned by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Inc.