Nasal Inhalation of Isopropyl Alcohol for the Treatment of Nausea in Patients With Cancer

May 26, 2026 updated by: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Inhalation Approaches to Nausea: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The goal of this research study is to understand the effect of inhalation approaches in reducing nausea in cancer patients.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

In this study, inhalation of a study solution will be compared to inhalation of placebo, both in the form of preparation pads (a small square of material that contains the solution). Isopropyl alcohol may be a part of the preparation pads. A placebo is not a drug. It looks like the study solution but is not designed to treat any disease or illness. It is designed to be compared with the study solution to learn if the study solution has any real effect.

Inhalation of the study solution may help to control your nausea. Future patients may benefit from what is learned. There may be no benefits for you in this study.

Your participation is completely voluntary. Before choosing to take part in this study, you should discuss with the study team any concerns you may have, including side effects, potential expenses, and time commitment.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

112

Phase

  • Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Texas
      • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
        • M D Anderson Cancer Center
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Michael J. Tang
        • Contact:
          • Michael J. Tang, MD
          • Phone Number: 832-468-8895

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Rate current severity of acute/chronic nausea >= 4 on NRS (Numeric Rating Scale)
  • Diagnosis of cancer
  • Able to read/write in English
  • Referred to supportive care service as an inpatient or outpatient
  • Rate anxiety as =< 4 on ESAS-FS (Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale-Financial Distress and Spiritual Pain)
  • Participants must agree to inhale isopropyl alcohol

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Received anti-emetics in the last 30 minutes
  • Received medical procedures (e.g. blood draws) which required exposure of isopropyl alcohol in the last 30 minutes
  • Inability to inhale through nares (including recent upper respiratory infection)
  • Known allergy to isopropyl alcohol
  • Delirium (i.e., score >= 7 on the Memorial Delirium Assessment Scale [MDAS])
  • Have never been on anti-emetics during the course of the treatment here (anti-emetic naive)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Arm I (isopropyl alcohol)
Patients receive isopropyl alcohol via nasal inhalation.
Other: Questionnaire Administration
Ancillary studies
Drug: Isopropyl Alcohol
Given via nasal inhalation
Other Names:
  • Isopropanol
  • Isopropanolol
Placebo Comparator: Arm II (placebo)
Patients receive placebo via nasal inhalation.
Other: Questionnaire Administration
Ancillary studies
Other: Placebo
Given via nasal inhalation
Other Names:
  • placebo therapy
  • PLCB
  • sham therapy

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in nausea
Time Frame: Baseline up to 5 minutes post-intervention
The mean change in nausea level will be compared between the two arms by two sample t-test. In case there's any violation in the underlying assumptions (e.g. normality, equality of variance, etc.) proper transformation (e.g. logarithm, square root, etc.) or non-parametric methods (Wilcoxon rank sum test) will be applied.
Baseline up to 5 minutes post-intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Collaborators

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Yvonne J Heung, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

November 5, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 30, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 30, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 19, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 26, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

November 29, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 27, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 26, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2019-0472 (Other Identifier: M D Anderson Cancer Center)
  • NCI-2019-07377 (Registry Identifier: CTRP (Clinical Trial Reporting Program))

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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