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Pooled Analysis of Phase II Window Studies in Children With Contemporary High-Risk Metastatic Rhabdomyosarcoma: A Report From the Soft Tissue Sarcoma Committee of the Children's Oncology Group

Joanne J. Lager, Elizabeth R. Lyden, James R. Anderson, Alberto S. Pappo, William H. Meyer, Philip P. Breitfeld

From the Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC; University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE; University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK; Children's Oncology Group, Arcadia, CA; and the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Address reprint requests to Philip P. Breitfeld, MD, Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, Box 2916, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710; e-mail: breit003{at}mc.duke.edu

PURPOSE: The Soft Tissue Sarcoma Committee of the Children's Oncology Group has conducted five upfront window trials in patients with newly diagnosed metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma to identify promising new treatment agents.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: This pooled analysis identified a total of 420 patients (115 from Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study III [IRS-III] and 305 from the five window trials). We assessed window therapy response rate, failure-free survival (FFS), and overall survival (OS).

RESULTS: Response rates (complete + partial response) assessed at week 6 of window therapy ranged from 41% to 55% and did not predict FFS (P = .073) or OS (P = .31). FFS was influenced by trial (P = .048); patients enrolled onto IRS-III and the ifosfamide/etoposide and ifosfamide/doxorubicin trials fared best. When grouped and compared with topoisomerase I poison trials, ifosfamide/topoisomerase II inhibitor trials had superior FFS (P = .013). However, there was no difference in survival.

CONCLUSION: Upfront phase II window trials can efficiently provide robust estimates of activity for new agents and combinations in newly diagnosed patients with high-risk rhabdomyosarcoma. Our data indicate that, for some phase II window trials, the risk of treatment failure may be increased but that the trend towards lower survival for some of the window trials compared with IRS-III is not statistically significant. Window nonresponders did not suffer worse FFS or OS than patients who responded to window therapy. Finally, these results provide a rationale for incorporating ifosfamide, etoposide, doxorubicin, and topoisomerase I poisons in future trials of high-risk metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma.

A complete listing of grant support for research conducted by the Children's Cancer Group and Pediatric Oncology Group before initiation of the Children's Oncology Group grant in 2003 is available online at http://www.childrensoncologygroup.org/admin/grantinfo.htm. The D9802 study of irinotecan was supported in part by a grant from Pharmacia.

Authors' disclosures of potential conflicts of interest and author contributions are found at the end of this article.

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