Thursday, April 24, 2014

Doxorubicin alone or with ifosfamide for treating soft tissue sarcoma? -- ScienceDaily

IN CONTINUATION OF MY UPDATE ON DOXORUBICIN

Dr. Ian Judson of the Royal Marsden Hospital in London and coordinator of this study says, "Our clinical trial was designed to compare combination treatment with doxorubicin and ifosfamide to treatment with doxorubicin alone, and our results show that the combination chemotherapy did not improve overall survival. So, if the goal of treatment is to control the disease, then administering doxorubicin alone is appropriate. On the other hand, if the goal is to shrink the tumor before another intervention or to relieve symptoms, then combination treatment is justifiable. The observed lack of improvement in overall survival points to the need for better treatments for patients with this disease."
For some thirty years, patients with soft tissue sarcomas have been treated with doxorubicin and ifosfamide, but few studies have directly assessed whether doxorubicin should be administered alone or in combination with ifosfamide. EORTC trial 62012 assessed whether the addition of ifosfamide to doxorubicin improves survival of patients with advanced soft-tissue sarcoma compared with doxorubicin alone.

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