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Updated: Nov 20, 2025

Proton Therapy Delivery and Its Clinical Application in Select Solid Tumor Malignancies
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Quality of life in paediatric solid tumours: a randomised study of metronomic chemotherapy versus placebo

Raja Pramanik1, Sandeep Agarwala2, Vishnubhatla Sreenivas3

  • 1Department of Medical Oncology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, Delhi, India.

BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care
|January 20, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Metronomic chemotherapy did not significantly improve health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children with progressive solid tumors compared to placebo. Assessments showed no meaningful differences in HRQoL scores between treatment groups.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Oncology
  • Clinical Trials
  • Quality of Life Research

Background:

  • Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a critical endpoint in pediatric cancer research.
  • Assessing HRQoL helps understand the patient experience beyond survival metrics.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare HRQoL in children with progressive solid tumors receiving metronomic chemotherapy versus placebo.
  • To determine if metronomic chemotherapy impacts patient-reported and parent-reported HRQoL.

Main Methods:

  • A double-blinded, placebo-controlled randomized study involving 108 children.
  • HRQoL was measured using the PedsQOL Cancer module V.3 at baseline, 9 weeks, and 18 weeks.
  • Analysis included comparisons of mean scores and minimal clinically important differences.

Main Results:

  • No statistically significant difference in HRQoL change was observed between the metronomic chemotherapy and placebo groups from baseline to 9 weeks.
  • This lack of difference was consistent across child-reported and parent-reported scores, as well as individual domain scores.
  • No significant differences were found when analyzing specific subgroups, including bone sarcomas, other tumors, responders, and non-responders.

Conclusions:

  • Metronomic chemotherapy did not demonstrate a significant benefit in improving HRQoL for pediatric patients with progressive solid tumors compared to placebo.
  • The findings align with other survival endpoint results from the same study.
  • Further research may be needed to explore alternative strategies for enhancing quality of life in this patient population.
Abstract

Keywords:
cancerpaediatricsquality of life

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