A trial looking at ifosfamide and doxorubicin for advanced soft tissue sarcoma (EORTC 62971)

Cancer type:

Sarcoma

Soft tissue sarcoma

Status:

Results

Phase:

Phase 3

This trial was comparing doxorubicin with 2 different ways of having ifosfamide for advanced soft tissue sarcoma.

Doctors often use chemotherapy to treat soft tissue sarcoma. Doxorubicin is the drug they most commonly use.

In this trial, the researchers compared doxorubicin with a drug called ifosfamide. They looked at 2 different ways of having ifosfamide.

The aims of the trial were to

See which treatment worked best for advanced soft tissue sarcoma
Learn more about the side effects

Summary of results

The trial team found that ifosfamide was no better at treating soft tissue sarcoma than doxorubicin.

The trial recruited 326 people

A third had doxorubicin every 3 weeks
A third had ifosfamide injections on 3 days every 3 weeks
A third had ifosfamide as a continuous infusion over 3 days every 3 weeks

Side effects such as a drop in the number of blood cells, infections and changes to the central nervous system Open a glossary item were more common with ifosfamide.

The trial team followed the progress of the people who took part for an average of over 3 and a half years. They found that the number of people whose cancer had responded to the treatment, and the number of people whose cancer had not come back, was about the same in all 3 groups.

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 Open a glossary item ) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.