Randomized Phase II Study Comparing Gemcitabine Plus Dacarbazine Versus Dacarbazine Alone in Patients With Previously Treated Soft Tissue Sarcoma: A Spanish Group for Research on Sarcomas Study

TL;DR: The combination of gemcitabine and DTIC is active and well tolerated in patients with STS, providing in this phase II randomized trial superior progression-free survival and overall survival than DTIC alone.

Abstract: Purpose To assess the activity and toxicity of the combination of gemcitabine plus dacarbazine (DTIC) in patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma (STS) in a randomized, multicenter, phase II study using DTIC alone as a control arm. Patients and Methods Patients with previously treated advanced STS were randomly assigned to receive either fixed-dose rate gemcitabine (10 mg/m2/min) at 1,800 mg/m2 followed by DTIC at 500 mg/m2 every 2 weeks, or DTIC alone at 1,200 mg/m2 every 3 weeks. The primary end point of the study was progression-free rate (PFR) at 3 months. Results From November 2005 to September 2008, 113 patients were included. PFR at 3 months was 56% for gemcitabine plus DTIC versus 37% for DTIC alone (P = .001). Median progression-free survival was 4.2 months versus 2 months (hazard ratio [HR], 0.58; 95% CI, 0.39 to 0.86; P = .005), and median overall survival was 16.8 months versus 8.2 months (HR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.90; P = .014); both favored the arm of gemcitabine plus DTIC. Gemcitabine p...