Pediatric Rhabdomyosarcoma Protocols Should Include More Detailed Imaging Guidelines to Ensure Homogeneous Response Assessment
Cet article analyse l'existence, dans les protocoles d'essais cliniques incluant des patients pédiatriques atteints d'un rhabdomyosarcome, de recommandations détaillées pour évaluer la réponse thérapeutique à l'aide de l'imagerie
In clinical trials, the short-term success of anticancer treatment is typically assessed by change in tumor size or volume. Pharmaceutical companies often base their decision to pursue further clinical testing of their products on the results of early-phase clinical trials, which include only a limited number of patients with relapsed or refractory disease. These patients often have received extensive prior treatment for their resistant tumors, and success is defined by the percentage of patients in whom disease shows stabilization or a (temporary) partial response, with the exceptional case of complete disappearance of disease. The overall response rate is most often the primary end point of these studies and, thus, the key variable to determining whether the treatment is a potential success. In later-phase trials, additional end points related to relapse or survival play a more prominent role although progressive disease remains one of the potential events in these survival analyses and is defined by either the occurrence of new lesions or the increase in size, with a predefined cutoff value. Measuring progressive disease necessitates imaging.
Journal of Clinical Oncology , article en libre accès, 2022