Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Assessing outcomes in palliative chemotherapy.

Emma Cattell1, Ana Arance, Mark Middleton

  • 1Cancer Research UK, Churchill Hospital, Headington, Oxford, UK.

Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy
|May 31, 2002
PubMed
Summary

Palliative chemotherapy aims to improve quality of life for metastatic cancer patients, not cure. Clinical trials should prioritize patient-reported outcomes over traditional cancer metrics for better decision-making.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Model-Informed Precision Dosing of Oral TKIs and PARP Inhibitors: A Practical Framework for Clinical Implementation.

Clinical pharmacokinetics·2026
Same author

Discontinuation of combo immunotherapy and outcome of patients with melanoma brain metastases.

Journal for immunotherapy of cancer·2026
Same author

Exploratory Analysis of Biomarkers and Treatment Outcomes from the COLUMBUS Study in BRAF V600E/K-Mutant Advanced or Metastatic Melanoma.

Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research·2026
Same author

Subgroup analyses of the phase 3 FOCUS study of melphalan/hepatic delivery system in patients with unresectable metastatic uveal melanoma.

Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology·2025
Same author

Personalized Circulating Tumor DNA Assay to Assess Long-Term Clinical Benefit in Patients with Advanced Melanoma.

Cancers·2025
Same author

Assessing brain metastasis response to immunotherapy: a pictorial review of atypical responses and intracranial adverse events.

Insights into imaging·2025

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Clinical Trials
  • Health Economics

Background:

  • Metastatic cancer treatment often involves palliative chemotherapy, focusing on symptom relief and quality of life rather than cure.
  • Traditional clinical trial endpoints (e.g., tumor shrinkage, survival) may not adequately reflect the goals of palliative chemotherapy.
  • Assessing patient outcomes, including quality of life and economic factors, is crucial for informed clinical decision-making in palliative care.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To advocate for a shift in clinical trial endpoints for palliative chemotherapy.
  • To emphasize the importance of patient-reported outcomes, such as quality of life, in evaluating treatment effectiveness.
  • To highlight the growing relevance of economic endpoints in balancing treatment costs against quality-of-life gains.

Main Methods:

  • Review of current practices in palliative chemotherapy trials.
  • Discussion of the challenges in measuring quality of life in patients with high morbidity.
  • Exploration of the integration of economic evaluations into clinical trial design.

Main Results:

  • Current trial designs often overlook the primary goals of palliative chemotherapy.
  • Numerous quality-of-life instruments exist, but consistent and robust application remains a challenge.
  • Economic considerations are increasingly vital for evaluating the value of new palliative treatments.

Conclusions:

  • Clinical trials for palliative chemotherapy must adopt patient-centered outcome measures.
  • Standardized and reliable methods for assessing quality of life are needed.
  • Future research should integrate economic evaluations to assess the value of palliative interventions.

Related Experiment Videos