A randomized phase III study of 72 h infusional versus bolus bleomycin in BEP (bleomycin, etoposide and cisplatin) chemotherapy to treat IGCCCG good prognosis metastatic germ cell tumours (TE-3).
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Date
2017-06-01ICR Author
Author
Shamash, J
Sarker, S-J
Huddart, R
Harland, S
Joffe, JK
Mazhar, D
Birtle, A
White, J
Chowdhury, K
Wilson, P
Marshall, MR
Vinnicombe, S
Type
Journal Article
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
BACKGROUND: Bleomycin is an integral part of combination chemotherapy in germ cell tumours. Pulmonary toxicity often necessitates drug cessation and death occurs in 1%-2% of patients. A continuous infusion of bleomycin might reduce lung toxicity when compared with the conventional weekly boluses given as part of standard BEP chemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A phase 3 trial was conducted based on 212 men with IGCCCG good prognosis metastatic germ cell tumours with 1 : 1 randomization. They were stratified for age, smoking history and renal function. Patients received either conventional BEP with weekly bleomycin (30 000 units/week i.v. bolus) or as a 90 000 unit infusion on day 1 over 72 h. The primary endpoint was CT assessed lung toxicity, secondary endpoints included progression-free survival (PFS), changes in lung function testing and quality of life. Repeated measures mixed effects model was used to analyse the data. RESULTS: CT assessed lung toxicity for the infusional and conventional arm patients were respectively 80% versus 62% at the end of treatment and 54% versus 51% at 1-year post-treatment. There was no significant difference between the two arms for CT assessed lung toxicity (estimated regression coefficient = 1.4, 95% CI: -0.36, 3.16). Older patients had higher toxicity (coefficient = 4.81, 95% CI: 3.04, 6.58). Lung toxicity increased after 1 cycle and peaked at end of treatment (P ≤ 0.002) and then declined. Lung function testing did not predict for subsequent lung damage. The median follow-up was 2.5 years. Two-year PFS rate (infusional: 93%, conventional: 94%; hazard ratio =0.91, 95% CI: 0.33, 2.52) was similar. Cough (P = 0.002) but not shortness of breath (P ≥ 0.09) was associated with bleomycin toxicity. CONCLUSIONS: Infusional bleomycin has no advantage over standard administration. It supports abandoning routine pulmonary function testing, instead the presence of cough should be sought and the early use of CT scanning of the chest to evaluate potential lung toxicity is preferred.
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Subject
Lung
Humans
Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal
Neoplasm Metastasis
Cisplatin
Etoposide
Bleomycin
Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
Prognosis
Infusions, Intravenous
Retrospective Studies
Adolescent
Adult
Middle Aged
Child
Male
Young Adult
Research team
Clinical Academic Radiotherapy (Huddart)
Language
eng
Date accepted
2017-02-21
License start date
2017-06
Citation
Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology, 2017, 28 (6), pp. 1333 - 1338
Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS