6-Day continuous infusion of high-dose ifosfamide with bone marrow growth factors in advanced refractory malignancies

Continuous 14 Day Infusional Ifosfamide for Management of Soft-Tissue and Bone Sarcoma: A Single Centre Retrospective Cohort Analysis

Simple Summary

Ifosfamide is commonly used to treat patients with soft-tissue and bone sarcoma, with greater efficacy observed with higher doses that generally require inpatient treatment and may result in significant myelosuppression and renal toxicity. In the palliative setting, continuous infusional ifosfamide (14 g/m²/14 days) is increasingly employed in an attempt to mitigate toxicity, and for ease of administration as an outpatient regimen. This study describes the efficacy and toxicity profile of 14-day continuous infusional ifosfamide in adult and teenage young adult (TYA) patients with relapsed or metastatic soft-tissue and bone sarcoma.

Abstract

Ifosfamide is used to treat soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) and bone sarcoma (BS), with improved efficacy at doses above 9 g/m²/cycle. To mitigate treatment-associated toxicity with higher doses, continuous infusional ifosfamide is increasingly used. However, clinical outcome data remain limited. Single-centre retrospective analysis of patients treated with four-weekly infusional ifosfamide (14 g/m²/14d) between August 2012 and February 2019 was conducted. Radiological response, progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and toxicity were evaluated. Eighty patients were treated—46 with STS and 34 with BS. Patients received a median of three cycles of infusional ifosfamide (1–24). Overall disease control rate (DCR) in STS was 50% (23 of 46 patients), with a median PFS of 3.8 months, and median OS of 13.0 months. In synovial sarcoma (SS), DCR was 80% (12/15), median PFS 8.1 months and median OS 20.9 months. Overall DCR in BS (34 patients) was 30%, with a median PFS of 2.5 months and median OS of 6.2 months. Five patients (6%) stopped treatment due to toxicity alone within the first two cycles. A further 10 patients stopped treatment due to toxicity during later treatment cycles (12%) and 18 patients (23%) required dose modification. Forty-five patients (56%) experienced grade (G) 3/4 haematological toxicity, with 12 episodes of febrile neutropenia and one treatment-related death. Twenty-seven patients (34%) experienced G3/4 non-haematological toxicity, most commonly nausea and vomiting (10, 13%). In summary, infusional ifosfamide has efficacy in STS, most notable in SS. Benefit appears limited in BS. Treatment is associated with toxicity that requires specialist supportive care.

Recurrent Low- to Intermediate-Grade Chondrosarcoma of the Thumb with Lung Metastases: An Objective Response to Trofosfamide

BACKGROUND

Low- to intermediate-grade chondrosarcoma is usually a slow-growing and highly chemotherapyresistant tumor type.

CASE REPORT

The 76-year-old female patient presented with low- to intermediate-grade chondrosarcoma of the distal phalanx of the right thumb in 1993 and was treated with an excision of the carpometacarpal joint. Approximately 10 years later, the patient presented with recurrent local disease at the trapezoid bone, which was resected. Eight months later she presented with local recurrence at the carpal joint and lung metastases. Subsequently she was treated chemotherapeutically with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin as part of a clinical trial. Due to tumor progression after 2 cycles, she was switched to oral trofosfamide (150 mg daily). A follow-up CT scan after 8 months demonstrated a partial remission that was confirmed by a second scan after 9 months of treatment. The treatment was well tolerated. After 18 months of continued treatment, she was still in remission and on trofosfamide.

CONCLUSION

Trofosfamide at a daily dose of 150 mg may be effective in low- to intermediate-grade chondrosarcoma.

Clinical and cellular pharmacology in relation to solid tumours of childhood

Our understanding of the clinical and cellular pharmacology of drugs commonly used in the treatment of childhood cancer have increased greatly over the past two decades. However, with the exception of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), our current knowledge of factors such as inter-patient pharmacokinetic variability and cellular determinants of chemosensitivity has not been utilized in the design of integrated clinical studies. Recent pre-clinical and clinical evaluation of the topoisomerase I inhibitors topotecan and irinotecan has highlighted the potential importance of pharmacological factors in their effectiveness as cytotoxics. In this review, the clinical and cellular pharmacology of vincristine, actinomycin D, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide, cisplatin, carboplatin and etoposide will be discussed in relation to the major paediatric solid tumours. For each disease type, knowledge of the clinical and cellular pharmacology of a candidate drug will be related to pharmacodynamic responses such as response, toxicity and prognosis. For diseases such as Wilms' tumour, osteogenic sarcoma and Ewing's tumour, histological response to initial induction chemotherapy is of prognostic significance, and the depth of response is increasingly recognised as an important determinant of prognosis for high-risk neuroblastoma. For several of these tumour types, the dose-intensity of chemotherapy may be an important variable in determining prognosis. However the relationship between pharmacokinetic variability, cellular pharmacology and the major determinants of chemosensitivity to those drugs employed in first line therapy is unknown. The study of these relationships, by means of up front window studies in children who present with high-risk disease, may be as important as the introduction of new agents. Indeed, the optimisation of current therapies may be required to allow a fully informed selection of those children for whom novel therapies are truly needed. Funding and international collaboration at the clinical and scientific level would be required to achieve these aims.

Current treatment of osteosarcoma

A comprehensive multidisciplinary approach has transformed osteosarcoma from a disease with a modest long-term survival to one in which at least two-thirds of patients will be cured. Surgery remains the vital modality for treating the primary tumor, whereas adjuvant chemotherapy plays an essential role in the control of subclinical metastatic disease. Complete surgical excision of the primary tumor remains an essential element of treatment. For many patients, a combination of advances in surgical technique, improved imaging modalities to accurately document tumor extent, and the effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy has made limb salvage procedures a safe alternative to amputation. In some patients for whom complete surgical excision is impossible, the addition of radiation therapy may allow local tumor control. The most effective chemotherapy agents currently in use include high-dose methotrexate, doxorubicin, cisplatin, and ifosfamide/etoposide. The optimal schedule of therapy is still being investigated, as is the role of dose intensification. Unfortunately, some groups of patients remain at high risk of eventual relapse. Those whose tumors show relatively low degrees of necrosis after administration of chemotherapy have poorer survival than patients with more chemotherapy-responsive tumors. Similarly, patients who present with overt metastatic disease (particularly bone metastases), as well as patients with tumors that recur after treatment, continue to have an unsatisfactory outcome. These groups, in particular, may benefit from future investigations into novel agents, such as biological response modifiers, antiangiogenesis factors, and growth receptor modulation.