Phentolamine mesylate can alleviate the nausea and vomiting associated with liver metastasis.

Among factors that can induce nausea and vomiting are liver metastatic deposits. The nausea and vomiting produced by hepatic secondaries can respond to "conventional" anti-emetics but on occasions can be resistant to such treatment and necessitate the use of dexamethasone which can be highly effective but takes 24-48 hours to have the desired effect. Obviously this time delay is unpleasant for the patient and reduces the quality of life when quantity of life is restricted. The following two case reports highlight the potential beneficial effects of intravenous phentolamine in achieving symptom control rapidly and buying time for the more prolonged effects of dexamethasone to become apparent.