Randomised Trial Of Single Agent Doxorubicin Versus Doxorubicin Plus Ifosfamide In The First Line Treatment Of Advanced Or Metastatic Soft Tissue Sarcoma

OBJECTIVES:

• Compare the progression-free and overall survival of patients with locally advanced or metastatic soft tissue sarcoma treated with doxorubicin with vs without ifosfamide and pegfilgrastim as first-line therapy.
• Compare the response in patients treated with these regimens.
• Compare the treatment-related mortality of patients treated with these regimens.
• Compare the toxicity of these regimens in these patients.

OUTLINE: This is a randomized, open-label, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to WHO performance status (0 vs 1), age group (less than 50 years of age vs 50 years of age and over), presence of liver metastases (yes vs no), histological grade (2 vs 3), and participating center. Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms.

• Arm I: Patients receive doxorubicin IV on day 1 (or IV continuously on days 1-3).
• Arm II: Patients receive doxorubicin IV on days 1-3 and ifosfamide IV over 4 hours on days 1-4. Patients also receive pegfilgrastim subcutaneously on day 5.

In both arms, treatment repeats every 3 weeks for up to 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.