A study looking at the way dactinomycin chemotherapy works in children and young people with cancer (PK 2006 07)

The researchers found that there were variations in the levels of dactinomycin found in the children’s blood.

98 children and young people up to the age of 21 took part. The researchers collected blood samples from everybody and measured the amount of dactinomycin their blood. The medical name for this kind of study is pharmacokinetics .

The researchers took blood samples before the children had dactinomycin, then every few hours after having the drug, and a final sample after 26 hours.

The study team have results for 98 children. When they looked at the levels of dactinomycin in their blood, the samples showed that bigger children had lower levels of dactinomycin than smaller children. Currently, doctors cap the dose they give to children over a certain weight. The researchers suggest that bigger children may benefit from a slightly higher dose than the capped dose that they currently have.

The most common side effects were a high temperature (fever) and a drop in blood cells causing an increased risk of infection, bleeding problems and tiredness.

The trial team concluded that a slightly higher dose of dactinomycin in bigger children should be looked at further in future clinical trials.

We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed ) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.